Happy Birthday Luca

When I was young, every year at spawning time I'd take a trip to the Burnett Park armed with a bucket. Said bucket would be swept through the parks pond, collecting as many tadpoles as possible. I'd then trundle home with my new companions, determined that this year they'd live for more than 3 days.

They never did, which makes the advent of Luca's 6th birthday all the more surprising. With Carole's Yin to my rather chaotic Yang the young chap continues to survive and thrive. 6 though? Jesus (sorry Mum)



Taken this morning, the above is one of many poses with Luca strangely keen to record what he views as a landmark day. He still has eyes as large as any of those in a Disney cartoon



Honestly, I was concentrating intently on my son, and not on "Match Of The Day" on the TV in the background



Favourite photo of the day thus far, Luca with his hand up the rear of a fluffy emu puppet. With its built in squeaks we (rather unsurprisingly) haven't seen Yoda much this morning. The worlds most cowardly dog, who trembles even at the sound of bubble wrap being popped. I'm serious.



Ok, 2nd place in the "cutest birthday photo of the day" goes to the above. Received from his Banchorian grandparents, these cuddly bears diverted his eyes from the chocolate strewn around the room. At least for a few seconds anyway.

Plan for the day? A few friends are coming round to see him, with much chocolate cake eating on the horizon. And perhaps, time allowing, he'll be taken to Aberdeen to see "The Hobbit" at the cinema. His dad will find a way to avoid that particular trip though, with such Middle Earth gubbins generally being enough to send me up the clock tower.

I can also use my back as an excuse not to join the movie "merriment" today, as the slight strain suffered on my back from a few days ago having entered into genuine stooped Hunchback Of Notre Dame territory. My trip to Dundee yesterday in the back of a friends small car to watch Aberdeen FC's latest (depressingly irregular) victory has certainly not helped. My next 10k race, on the 2nd January, is looking ominously too near now.

I must end today's entry a little more promptly than intended as Luca's emu attacks on me are showing few signs of any ceasefire. 6 years down the line and we've learnt to expect such little free time. But we did buy the ticket, and now have to watch the movie. But what a great movie it's turned out to be.

**Useless fact of the day - 1 in 100 people in America are in prison**

It started at 11am? You're kidding?

Happy Boxing Day! In addition to a unique blogging date (unless I'm mistaken, this is the first time I've posted an entry the day after Christmas), today's entry is coming to you from the alternative location of Banchory.

I'm currently sitting on the stair in Mum and Dad's house, having kept my promise of checking on their house while they visit Kelly in Australia. A useful first visit for certain, having discovered most of the lights in the house still lit, allied to the printer and computer whirring incessantly away. All now switched off, planet earth will breath a sigh of relief, as will Dad's wallet when the electricity bill comes in.

However, my reason for coming through today wasn't only for entirely unilateral reasons. Today was also the "Banchory Boxing Day Fun Run", a 5k race to run off the copious amounts of Christmas turkey and trifle floating inside your stomach. However - the start time given on the website was wrong,and what was advertised as an 1130am start actually kicked off at 11 o'clock.

Much to the chagrin of myself and around a dozen other runners who turned up at 1115.

However, as we were there myself and 7 others had our own competition, and started together at 1120. Fuelled with displeasure - I'm a grumpy enough sod at the best of times - I ran aggressively, ensuring I not only beat my fellow latecomers (all of whom were running club members in their 20's and early 30's) but destroyed them out if sight.

A satisfyingly fast run certainly, where I also overtook a couple of dozen back markers from the 11am start, but not enough to satisfy my anger. How difficult is it to advertise the correct start time on a website? Frustratingly, I would have been a near front runner had I turned up earlier.

And yes, I now have turkey related indigestion.

A disappointing start to the day, but this is in direct contrast to yesterday. Christmas didn't disappoint, and following Luca's awakening at 830am (yes, you can hate us for having such a great sleeper for a son) we made our way to the tree for exchange of presents. Luca's expressions were highly amusing - "Woooow!", "That's awesome", "I can't believe I got that for Christmas!" - so please rest assured that your presents were highly appreciated. However, our visit later in the morning to the local church was accepted rather than ecstatically enjoyed by the hyperactive hair monster, as you can probably imagine.

We had friends over for dinner which was fun too. Far too much drinking of course, but the meal was delicious. Even Luca ate heartily, including turkey, roast potatoes and pigs in blankets. There were no amateur dramatics when coming across less favoured foodstuffs - is he maturing into a responsible and considerate young boy at last?

Actually, probably not. Even Christmas can't bring forth such unlikely goals.

More will follow tomorrow, and I'll provide a few family pictures too. In the interim, I look forward to Kelly's blog with her "news" (I won't trump her with it) in addition to Lucy's latest entry, with news of the Christmas Day lunatic encountered outside her house.

""Useless fact of the day - Luca owns a Spider-Man hat, which he calls his "ninja", for reasons that entirely elude us""


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Best intentions and all that jazz

To begin (picture below) we have Luca resplendent in his main Christmas present - an Aberdeen FC football kit. He took a shine to their away strip so I didn't take much convincing to buy it for him. In an age of commercialism and global identities it's extremely difficult to convince kids to follow their local team, so his keenness is gladdening.

 

 

Our second, and rather more blurred picture above was taken in the cinema yesterday, during Luca's fourth (4th!) viewing of the Disney/Pixar animated romp "Brave". A terrific film of it's type granted, but it's rapidly losing it's lustre with me now. I'm now at the stage where I'm beginning to mouth along to many of the scenes. Although I absolutely don't wipe away a tear at the films ending on every single ruddy occasion.

Of course, Luca is not alone in watching movies over and over. Much like Lucy with "Labyrinth" and "Grease" 30 years ago, Kelly was also obsessed with a film and watched it endlessly too -  a prize to whomever can put me out of my misery and enlighten me to it's name.

On that theme, I still can't even look at leather trousers without unconsciously humming "You're The One That I Want".

It's currently 11.45am on Christmas Eve, and I'm in the office trying to finish up for Christmas. A depressingly busy end to the year is ensuing, but I still hope to pack up and leave within the next couple of hours. I am, as is standard, running behind with my Christmas preparations although I'm not alone. Carole admitted on Friday that she hadn't sent out cards to any of our friends and neighbours. The first time I've ever known Carole not to be hyper-organised, although of course rather understandable this year.

Although quieter than normal due to the absence of family locally (indeed, this year Carole's immediate family are our closest relatives at a distance of 450 miles from our home) there will be little rest. Carole's in town just now picking up the turkey, while following my finish here (and a run at the gym naturally) I'll be heading again to the shops before making my way home to help Carole/get in her way/delete as applicable.

Tomorrow will bring a morning trip to our local church for Luca and I while Carole lets the horse out. Although not actively religious, I see no issue in encouraging the desire within Luca to adopt a community feeling alongside allowing him access to the ways of Catholicism, or religion in general, for the ethos and standards it purports toward. We then have friends coming for dinner in the afternoon - a dinner cooked entirely by Carole so edibility is guaranteed at least.

Quiet time will of course be observed for the annual televisual Christmas highlight. No, not the Queens Speech (REALLY not the Queens Speech) but instead "Top Of The Pops Christmas Special". However, it won't be the same this year without Dad watching confusedly from an armchair while unconsciously making faces at the standard of music these days.

No rest on Boxing Day either, as I race the "Boxing Day Fun Run", a 5.5km run round Banchory, all the while attempting to not regurgitate the ample portions of Christmas Turkey consumed the previous day.

A Very Merry Christmas to you all, and we'll hopefully speak to you on the phone/Skype/Facetime on the day.

**Useless fact of the day - US scientists calculated that Santa would have to visit 822 homes a second to deliver all the world's presents on Christmas Eve, travelling at 650 miles a second**

Never give up

Does the title of this post refer to my running, Luca's football or blogging? Out of sheer lethargy I'm simply going to make a claim on all three.

Starting at the former, I'm gratifyingly reaching full mobility again after my recent "incident". It seems the time put in strengthening this injury prone knee earlier in the year (it's been the weak part of my body for many years) has paid dues, and with the swelling almost now clear, the stronger (anterior?) muscles are healing rapidly.

And the latter? Although not quite attaining my initial goals, this is now my 4th blog entry in just over a fortnight. A good average to continue with I think.

Most interestingly, however, it may relate to Luca's football. Following on from some pretty execrable recent performances (as detailed in previous blogs - he's developed a fear of getting hurt), a new, braver Luca appeared at training on Saturday. Or Luca Mark 2, as we'll rather tenuously title him.

He's slowly beginning to understand what's needed. We'd had a number of discussions both previous to the training and also immediately prior to the actual game. The gist was to forget his fears, and become more selfish too. "So I should dribble more Dad?" came a final question from the perma furrowed browed boy.

With the affirmative in his mind the game kicked off. The first test occurred when Luca received a pass from his goalkeeper. In recent weeks he'd immediately passed the ball back to his keeper on each occasion to avoid the threat or someone tackling him. But not today.

He put his foot on the ball and turned. An opponent came running toward him. Luca sidestepped him and began running up the wing with the ball at his feet. Fast. He covered the full length of the pitch before passing inside for a team-mate to shoot (badly, and wide)

A grin now appeared on his face. Four more times during the game he burst up the pitch with the ball in tow, and though he was eventually tackled or crowded out on each occasion it mattered little. The boldness was back.

As much as I'm over-egging the Luca pudding here (does this turn of phrase even make sense?) I'm in turn doing him a discredit by not mentioning another event of note - Luca can now swim!

Almost

I've re-begun (ah, I'm in one of those "make words up" modes today) Luca's swimming lessons. We ventured to the pool yesterday, where we continued the "let go of him half way across the pool and hope he doesn't sink" method. This time he didn't sink.

I just Googled it. "Rebegun" is actually a word. I guess my education continues. As feasible as it is, it just doesn't sound right though does it? Much like eating ice cream in winter, or having a hot bath in the summer, or watching "Strictly Come Dancing" when in possession of the XY chromosome.

I had to Google again for that latter piece of information. My memory is way past the stage where you can adequately describe it as a sieve. It's more like a thin paper bag filled with soup.

I won't report too much on the horse situation. Astonishingly grateful for the insurance cover (HOW much???), Harvey is being treated and it's a genuine case of wait and see. Carole put rubber mats down at the stable yesterday in preparation for the horses return, although there's also the alternative of moving it to the vets stables. A viable alternative, but not preferable - it's double the distance from our house compared to the existing.

Allied to this is that Luca enjoys the current farm. One of his school classmates is always there (who has her own pony. I know........), and he's almost made friends with a boy who lives on the farm too. It's nice to watch the three of them play together. Well, I say play, but I actually mean Luca odering them what to do while they do as they're told.

The bossy gene. Wonder where that one came from.?

I saw that traditional Coca Cola advert on TV today. You know the one, "Holidays are coming, holidays are coming........". With this, the festive spirit is entering our home. That, and I'm now quite thirsty.

Photo's now, by the river in Dyce. It was reeaaalllyyyy cold:-

**Useless fact of the day - Advertising uses subtle suggestion commonly to sell. The following standard statement being used in various forms by all agencies ""The first fact to note about suggestion is that statements which rely solely on suggestion for their acceptance must be simply expressed , confident in tone and repeated often if they are to be effective. A single, halting statement is not at all persuasive. A confident statement, often repeated, is immensely persuasive""**

3 blogs in a week? Nearly..........

Much like the running goals I set for myself, my plan to post 3 blog entries within the space of a week proved unsuccessful. However, I'm not far out, and unlike my running schedule my blogging plans can continue unabated.

Why "unlike my running schedule"? Because I've knackered my knee. Again. How did I do it his time? Was it running, or football, or even just slipping about in the snow with the dogs? Nope, I fell down the stairs.

Yep, like the old man I so very much act like, I had a stumble down the stairs this morning. Knowing immediately I'd need assistance I called for a hand. Unfortunately, Carole was at the farm so the only other resident of our house responded - Luca. He jumped out his bed and joined me at the bottom of the stairs. "You weren't looking at the stairs were you Dad?", he immediately scolded, "I ALWAYS look at the stairs".

Having accepted the chiding from a child 31 years my junior, I'm now sitting with my leg up and working from home today. Not something I enjoy (too many distractions) but needs must. One of those distractions is the absolutely appalling "Star Trek Enterprise", currently playing in the background on the TV. Daytime TV is really bad isn't it? Though I must say, "Homes Under The Hammer" earlier was actually rather involving.

Jesus, I really am a natural pensioner aren't I?

During my convalescence Carole is using my car, which in these snowy conditions she's grateful of. She's bouncing to and from the farm to keep track of Harvey's progress. It seems the issue is that he's allergic to something on the farm, so new livery may be needed. Updates to follow.

Photo's now:-




Luca with Tyler, his best friend. Taken last night, this brief 4 second pose is the only time they weren't perpetual motion.




What do you think I bribed them with to convince them to pose so nicely? A clue, it's sweet and rhymes with "bocolate"




A photo of a photo now, the above being Luca's official school portrait. Good job eh?

**Useless fact of the day - There is no mention of 3 Wise Men in the bible. No number is ever given, they're just mentioned as "wise men"**

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