Grandad

Today is my Dad's birthday. He was probably Kieron's best mate. In one of Kieron's school books he had an exercise to do on the best and worst days of his life. Under 'worst day' he wrote "the worst day of my life was when my Grandad died". Kieron was nearly 4 when my Dad died aged 81 and it was only a fluke he wasn't with him at the time.
My Dad babysat all my children but especially enjoyed Kieron's company as by then, my Mum's Alzheimer's was advanced and he always said that Kieron brought life into the house. The night before he died he was due to have Kieron overnight to give me a bit of a break. He rang me that evening saying that he had indigestion and thought it would be better if Kieron didn't come over. Kieron was disappointed but knew that it wouldn't be long before he stayed over again, plus we went to see my parents daily.
The next morning, Dad went out to get food for their cats and died in his car. Kieron would have been with him.
It was hard telling the kids, but Kieron was there with cuddles for us all as always.
One of Kieron's favourite tales is when Dad came to my house to babysit: I had opened an alcopop while getting ready, but left most of it in the bottle. On my return home I was informed that Kieron had fallen asleep suddenly on the settee but Dad had managed to carry him up to bed. No mean feat for a man of 81 with a withered leg, but he did it. "By the way" he said, "I let Kieron finish off your bottle of cherryade, and then he was fast asleep".
Kieron always laughs at this...he tells the tale with the opening sentence of "do you remember when I was 3 and Grandad got me drunk?" and giggles with delight.
They were two rogues, ganging up on me with fiendish pleasure. It was great.

Penny Sweets

Our local sweet shop is called "Edwards" but all the kids call it "Teds" so naturally I've become accustomed over the years to requests to go to Teds.
When Kieron's big sister was little, penny sweets were.....penny sweets. When Kieron's big brother was little, they were often 2 penny sweets. With Kieron they were 5p sweets. Pocket money meant a sugar-filled hour of gelatine and colourings and delightful stickiness.
When Kieron was younger, Jade sometimes took him to spend his pocket money and as Callum got older, he was occasionally entrusted with the responsibility of getting Kieron across the traffic lights...wait for the green man...and going to Teds.
Going into Teds is a cornucopia of deliciousness. Sweets are arranged in plastic tubs with tiny, child-size tongs to pick up the sweets and put into a bag. Kieron has this down to a fine art....pick up the tongs but stuff the sweets in the bag with your fingers, adding up as he goes along. Kieron's dinner lady works there sometimes and always asks him to save her a sweet and take it into school for her. And he does. Not just a little sweet either, but a 10p one.
Once Kieron was deemed trustworthy enough to go to the shop on his own, I followed him the first couple of times. He climbed on the wall alongside the library, jumping over stray shrubs that were in the way, before leaping off the wall and running up to the traffic lights. My heart in my mouth, I held back out of sight, watching him press the button and wait for the green man, before crossing to the middle of the road and repeating the task. OK, he was across safely. Now just a little side road, a railway bridge and another road to negotiate to reach his personal nirvana. and he did it.
Curiously enough, he turned round in the sweet shop to see me standing there with the excuse that I thought I would " pop out for some sweets for me too". "I'll get them mum...what do you want?".Then the walk back home, red and yellow rubbery snakes crammed into his mouth, discussing the finer things in life such as which sweet to eat next and would I like to try one.
After proving himself on the expedition, he was eventually allowed to go on his own without me following along like an extra from a cheap spy film, but I always put a piece of paper in Kieron's pocket with his name , address and phone number on it, in case there was an accident. It was my dread that one day there would be a knock on the door with someone standing there telling me that Kieron had been run over. Run over, died at home, no more sweets for us.

Trees

I've just returned from a city break with an old friend. While we were away I saw a Kieron tree. A tree that was perfectly formed for a little boy to climb, with  branches that were evenly spaced and sturdy and very inviting for a boy to climb and conquer.

Kieron climbs trees...and fences...and cliffs...and anything else that's in his path. After an initial surge onto the first couple of branches, he pauses to plot his path through the tree to maximise his chances of success. Any bugs he meets en route are subjected to a brief investigation followed by a lift onto a higher branch via Kieron's sleeve or any other place he decides to tuck them. My constant admonishments of 'be careful' are regarded with laughter. After all, Kieron's a brave explorer who is more than capable of climbing this tree. 

My neck aching from looking up and my heart beating too fast as I ready myself to catch him when he falls, I usually decide to join in and climb the tree too. And get stuck. And have to get rescued by Kieron the Superhero. Who then decides to tell everyone he sees for the rest of the day that his mum 'is a girl' who can't climb trees.

When Kieron was about 6, he went to my aunt's after school. My aunt lives in a cottage tied to a residential home with beautiful, manicured gardens. These landscaped lawns have trees that were just crying out to Kieron to climb them but unfortunately tree-climbing wasn't allowed. So my aunt kept watch as Kieron disappeared up into the leafy branches, ready to distract any of the gardeners who might wander along and see him. The minor fact that Kieron was clambering up the tree in his school uniform was disregarded along with the new scuffs on his school shoes. And that is how it should be. Little boys, trees and mud...perfect.

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. Last year I came home from work and was greeted as I walked down the road by my daughter who was jumping up and down wanting me to hurry up.
The kids had put Jade's old birthday banners on the front door and Kieron had gone for a home-made version.
All up the sides of the stairs were sheet after sheet of printed paper with a letter on each spelling 'happy birthday'. He had used up the ink cartridge in the printer and had resorted to felt tip pens to finish it off. He was mildly apologetic at using all the ink but knew that I was so pleased that he'd made a banner for me.
In the kitchen sat a chocolate cake that Jade had made me. It hadn't turned out as well as she hoped and Kieron kept teasing her about it. Something about poo comes to mind.
Kieron started to keep a journal and I know he won't mind me sharing his entry for that day:

February 2nd
Mums B-day! I have been working on a banner only took 30 mins though I also thought how I keep on forgetting about doing diary entries.
We made a B-day cake, it was meant to be chocolate tart but after 6 hours it still hadn't set. It was really mushy (ugh)!

That mushy tart was yummy and sticky and made with love.

Birthday treats were often takeaways. So chinese it was. Kieron digging prawns out of the rice and throwing them on my plate or Jade's. Anything remotely resembling a vegetable garnished the edge of his bowl and prawn cracker crumbs littered the table.

Jade was in charge of choosing my birthday present, after a secret consultation with me. So last year the boys gave me a boyfriend cardigan. I'm nervous of wearing it now in case I damage it.

We had chinese last night and chocolate cake. I took a slice up to Kieron's room and sat on his bed. At least I'm getting older.