June 14, 2008           

Dear all,

Yesterday was A’s fifth birthday and, just like the day he was born, it was Friday the 13^th.  How telling.  A came into this world on his own terms:  he had to be turned because he was breech and a couple of weeks later, I was induced and actually went home later that evening exhausted and with nothing but a headache.  He refused to be born.  When finally he decided to make an entrance, it was Friday the 13^th.  His headstrong pre-natal tendencies were very much an indication of his post-natal personality.  Still, he does get under your skin and we adore the little man who rules our house with an iron fist.

 

A woke everyone up early so we could all celebrate his day.  The big kids staggered into the kitchen to watch the presents being opened.  He got a “real” watch after asking for a new one for months. “I want a watch where the hands move on their own and it isn’t made of wood.”  Fair enough, I suppose. 

 

His big gift was a Playmobil airplane (or ‘aero’ plane if you are British).  It is a sturdy aircraft complete with figures.  Playmobil must have updated itself.  It is so right on:  The passengers are no longer a family with a mom and dad and 2 children.  The family consists a boy accompanied by his mother.   The flight attendant frowns, sports an orange fake tan, rolls her eyes and smells strongly of migraine inducing perfume.  The pilot’s blazer has an ever-so-faint outline of a handgun.   We had fun checking out the baggage handlers, too.  They are darling, jonesing for a smoke and, if you hold them up to your ear, threatening to strike.  We’re looking forward to adding to the set over time, hoping beyond all hopes that Playmobil has by Christmas added an airport security set to their line.  What child doesn't love the drug sniffing dogs?  The thought of A playing with plastic burley, 5 o’clock shadowed women warms my heart.  Maybe then we could make believe play the time when M got pulled aside in London’s Gatwick Airport by some overzealous security worker and was searched, suspected of having a grenade in his pocket. M reached into his pocket and produced instead, a pinecone.  I doubt Playmobil will include an action figure of an American-looking mother who, when the right buttons are pushed, flips out and spouts off about her son’s civil liberties. But then, she is why Playmobil also makes the police car.

 

With love from England,

T-Ann