Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to. ~ Mark Twain

My stepfather David often jokes that you have to take Robbie everywhere twice, the second time to apologise! It isn't true of course, Robbie can be a bit excitable at times, but he is good company and well behaved. My son is fond of Robbie, but being a teenager disapproval is part of his job description and Robbie and I are frequent targets of his displeasure - he seems to think that we are embarrassing!

A couple of months ago he got a new girlfriend (my son, not Robbie!) and he was rather anxious about introducing her to us. She is lovely, I met her several times before Christmas, but my son decided to wait until after Christmas to introduce her to Robbie and his sisters. He was convinced that one of us would embarrass him - and he was probably right, but he is too easily embarrassed!

Finally after warning us yet again to be on our best behaviour he decided that the time had come to introduce her to Robbie so we arranged to take them out for lunch today. We went to Buddies American Diner in Kingsthorpe, Robbie likes it there because they have a train that runs around above our heads on a suspended loop. He couldn't resist pointing out that it was a 'misfit' because the engine was an old German engine but the wagons and caboose were American, but I managed to guide him away from the subject of trains. It went very well, we enjoyed our meal, Robbie was moderately well behaved and I only caused my son to squirm with embarrassment once or twice.

Moving the Goal Posts

Men! Just when you think you have got them worked out they change the goal posts. Sam has always objected strongly to having his hair cut, when he was a little boy he would scream the place down as if he was being attacked. As he got older the difficulty was getting to the hairdressers in the first place because he flatly refused to go. Each time he needed a haircut, I had a feeling of dread, because I knew it would involve a fuss. Robbie and Sam usually go to the hairdressers together. While Robbie isn't yet having to pay a 'finders fee' to the hairdresser his hair is significantly thinner than Sam's thick mop of hair, so much to Sam's annoyance his haircut takes considerably longer than Robbie's. In the last few months he has taken to wearing a ridiculous hat, so it was possible to ignore the problem to some degree and to put off the dreaded moment of the haircut. When Sam came to me yesterday and asked me to make an appointment at the hairdressers for him I nearly died of shock. When I recovered my power of speech I asked why he was suddenly willing to have his hair cut, the answer was simple - his girlfriend wants it cut! Maybe I could give her a list of other things to work on!