Birthdays

It has been a very crazy week. I just finished off my last big project of the week and now I am going to enjoy the coffee and cookies that were just deposited on my desk, write a quick blog post and then, hopefully, catch up on reading your posts.

The past several evenings, I have been using the Microsoft MovieMaker software that comes with Windows XP to edit some birthday videos that I had taken of my son on his fourteen birthdays to date. What an experience! The first few videos were of this lovely little boy, a bundle of joy and cuteness, a pleasure to be around. The last couple had a bit of tension in them, and it was plain to see that the birthday boy's daddy was having his patience taxed. That is what happens when our offspring approach and pass the teenage years. They become their own people, engage in trial and error to see what will work for them, and sometimes, all too frequently, piss off their parents in the process. For the parents, it is more like trial by fire.

I am not suggesting that my son still isn't lovable and delightful to be around. It is just that sometimes, occasionally at exactly the wrong time, he will exhibit behaviour that causes consternation and/or frustration in me and then no-one wins. Given that another teenage birthday of his will be coming up in August, I guess I better get used to it.

On the other hand, though, I have noticed that the past several months have been an improvement over the months previous. My son has been doing his homework on time, unbidden. He has been making feeble attempts to keep things a bit neater than usual in his room. He has been doing his chores a little more conscientiously. What can this all mean? Is he angling for something?

I hope it means that the worst is over, and that the lovable and charming behaviour that thrilled me in the videos capturing his first twelve or so birthdays will resurface on his fifteenth, and stay around from then on.

Could that be possible?