Thursday, July 20, 2006
About the Boy
This is intended as a tidy up exercise for my other site. Getting close to moving house (just about got a new template done), and indeed the majority of my traffic is hitting there rather than here now. I expect I'll keep both running, but the extra content (like recipies, pictures and rude stuff) will only live over there. But as a bit of background...
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The Boy – he that be me. A forty something, happily married father. A wage slave senior manager in the media industry, who has a commute to work that makes most sane people drop their jaws and say “You do what?”. A man who loves his wife, and is committed to his children. Who has refound some of his own childhood through parenting. A lover of books, technology, cooking and one who found an unexpected joy in gardening. Stress relievers consist of playing with his children, reading, cooking a meal and… well… private time with his wife. Stress creators consist of marshalling teams of people to run call centres, build and operate websites, and maintain exhaustive private details of peoples lives for marketing purposes. And the commute, did I mention the commute?
LL – the Love of my Life. A woman of infinite complexity, who alternatively enthrals and exasperates the boy. She who invests silly amounts of money for large corporate clients. A woman who, at a glance at a restaurant bill, can tell everyone what they owe, but whom can get angrily frustrated over a remote control that “won’t work”. Fiercely independent, surviving and succeeding in a heavily male career (not always happily mind), she is quite content to hand over “man’s work” to the boy (such as opening a jar). She is the boy’s muse, his love with love returned, and they both intend to live the remainder of their lives together.
PP – Pirate Pete. Number one son and heir. Cleverly intelligent and most like the boy in personality, without being a replica of his father. Fiercely competitive, and moody when he looses, he is normally a bright and cheery child. A book worm by nature, he can already while away an afternoon reading. Then again, he likes nothing more than larking about with his brother, who is clearly also his best friend. A fit boy, he’s showing talent and inclination at swimming, but desperately wants to be a footballer at which he may only be indifferent at. The inspiration for “the boy” as that’s what he called himself when he first learned to talk, because that’s what his parents called him…
AB – Ali Baba. Number two son and heir. Physically attentive and needing lots of cuddles, he is normally the sunniest personality in the room. Except when he’s not, as there is an underlying mood that settles in at the oddest moments. Best friend with his older brother, and frequently put out by his younger sister. May actually be the most intelligent of the three, but also is highly emotionally acute. Loves to sing, but struggles to carry a tune. Most likely to crack a joke that makes no sense to anyone but him and his father.
TP – The Princess. Sole daughter, incredibly cute and knows it. Appears to have inherited much of her mother’s personality, including the temper (sigh). Desperately wants to do whatever her brothers are doing, but is often still too little. As such, mostly a tomboy, but every so often quite happy to play with her doll house or hold a tea party. Quite capable of charming the socks off of anyone around, which she uses to her advantage. Hugely self confident, and long may it continue.
SN – Super Nanny. Our second, and has been with us for a couple years, and will likely be with us many more. Thirty something and happy in her own marriage, but without her own kids. We don’t ask why, as the question appears to be a difficult one. Very loving of the kids, and well loved in return. Quite simpatico in how she parents to our own style (we’ve been lucky that way twice now), she welds a firm disciplined influence whilst letting the kids be kids. LL often jokes (while being quite serious) that our children have two mothers. In employing we’ve also employed her husband and parents, all of whom have taken care of the kids at times. Our children also have three sets of grandparents!
CC – the Caring Cleaner. Has been with us over nine years now. Loyal and completely trustworthy, she’s a single parent managing on her own without help from the state. As such we are loyal in return, and she’ll have a job as long as she wants one. She helps out with more than cleaning, and quite enjoys playing with the kids when she’s by. Perfectly good at what she does, but with quirks. Completely incapable of putting some back down from where its been picked up. Has inspired the verb to be “cleaned”, which means nothing is where is was. Hugely likable, but… hmmm… a bear of little brain.
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The Boy – he that be me. A forty something, happily married father. A wage slave senior manager in the media industry, who has a commute to work that makes most sane people drop their jaws and say “You do what?”. A man who loves his wife, and is committed to his children. Who has refound some of his own childhood through parenting. A lover of books, technology, cooking and one who found an unexpected joy in gardening. Stress relievers consist of playing with his children, reading, cooking a meal and… well… private time with his wife. Stress creators consist of marshalling teams of people to run call centres, build and operate websites, and maintain exhaustive private details of peoples lives for marketing purposes. And the commute, did I mention the commute?
LL – the Love of my Life. A woman of infinite complexity, who alternatively enthrals and exasperates the boy. She who invests silly amounts of money for large corporate clients. A woman who, at a glance at a restaurant bill, can tell everyone what they owe, but whom can get angrily frustrated over a remote control that “won’t work”. Fiercely independent, surviving and succeeding in a heavily male career (not always happily mind), she is quite content to hand over “man’s work” to the boy (such as opening a jar). She is the boy’s muse, his love with love returned, and they both intend to live the remainder of their lives together.
PP – Pirate Pete. Number one son and heir. Cleverly intelligent and most like the boy in personality, without being a replica of his father. Fiercely competitive, and moody when he looses, he is normally a bright and cheery child. A book worm by nature, he can already while away an afternoon reading. Then again, he likes nothing more than larking about with his brother, who is clearly also his best friend. A fit boy, he’s showing talent and inclination at swimming, but desperately wants to be a footballer at which he may only be indifferent at. The inspiration for “the boy” as that’s what he called himself when he first learned to talk, because that’s what his parents called him…
AB – Ali Baba. Number two son and heir. Physically attentive and needing lots of cuddles, he is normally the sunniest personality in the room. Except when he’s not, as there is an underlying mood that settles in at the oddest moments. Best friend with his older brother, and frequently put out by his younger sister. May actually be the most intelligent of the three, but also is highly emotionally acute. Loves to sing, but struggles to carry a tune. Most likely to crack a joke that makes no sense to anyone but him and his father.
TP – The Princess. Sole daughter, incredibly cute and knows it. Appears to have inherited much of her mother’s personality, including the temper (sigh). Desperately wants to do whatever her brothers are doing, but is often still too little. As such, mostly a tomboy, but every so often quite happy to play with her doll house or hold a tea party. Quite capable of charming the socks off of anyone around, which she uses to her advantage. Hugely self confident, and long may it continue.
SN – Super Nanny. Our second, and has been with us for a couple years, and will likely be with us many more. Thirty something and happy in her own marriage, but without her own kids. We don’t ask why, as the question appears to be a difficult one. Very loving of the kids, and well loved in return. Quite simpatico in how she parents to our own style (we’ve been lucky that way twice now), she welds a firm disciplined influence whilst letting the kids be kids. LL often jokes (while being quite serious) that our children have two mothers. In employing we’ve also employed her husband and parents, all of whom have taken care of the kids at times. Our children also have three sets of grandparents!
CC – the Caring Cleaner. Has been with us over nine years now. Loyal and completely trustworthy, she’s a single parent managing on her own without help from the state. As such we are loyal in return, and she’ll have a job as long as she wants one. She helps out with more than cleaning, and quite enjoys playing with the kids when she’s by. Perfectly good at what she does, but with quirks. Completely incapable of putting some back down from where its been picked up. Has inspired the verb to be “cleaned”, which means nothing is where is was. Hugely likable, but… hmmm… a bear of little brain.
