joe-thumbheadI suspect my little boy is growing up to be a twink. Or perhaps he´s just be exposed to too much gay sex through his father. It's hard to tell before puberty, but he is interested in sex at a level deeper level than his interest in Pokémon cards and Manchester United football club.

Still, I can't think about my little boy without a lump coming to my throat. Perhaps because he's my last baby. Perhaps because he's my first boy (for a gal who had no brothers). I try not to show it, but I am forever fearful for him: will he break a bone or smash his head-in during one of his many stunts. Will he be tough enough not to be bullied but tender enough not to bully. Will he grow up to good to his partner. I feel much more sure-footed with Amy: she's a girl, I'm a girl, I know how stuff works, I can teach her.

But boys ... well lets be honest here, boys: aggressive, obsessed with machines, poor at emotional discourse, rotten at forming and sustaining loving balanced long-term relationships, and hoping to be sexually successful equipped with a blood-engorged worm like thingy and a couple of wrinkly balls that usually smell. I mean, as a mother it's a lot to worry about.

Still, my Joe is a nice boy. Smart with a slight sassy edge that will get him into trouble as a teenager (he's a good mimic). A little timid occassionally (so I've packed him off to boxing lessons and judo to build his confidence). .

A bit worryingly, he seems to have some sort of materailistic gene (I blame my sister Kate, who is also a carrier of that gene). He rings me from the golf course on our mobile to be picked up after his lesson - the image of a pint-sized yuppie makes me laugh everytime.

 
Me & My Son