Rowan gets even

As of today, Angus is the odd one out, literally. He is the only odd numbered age in the house and will remain that way for the next five months until I join him. Because today Rowan is four!

Being third in line means Rowan's birthday celebrations are inevitably lower key than Sean's and Finn's. When you're reading this years later Rowan, it's not because we love you any less! Angus will probably be thrown a few candles and an address book and told to get on with it himself! Nana and Papa came over for Rowan's birthday which he really liked. His main present today, which seems to have gone down very well, is a big Buzz Lightyear who has subsequently accompanied Rowan everywhere in the house. He also got a Wall-E "operation" type game and a pair of Batman pyjamas from us and magnetic shapes from Edel & Alan (& Barry). Sharon took him out in the early afternoon to do a bit of shopping and he was full of chat (it's rare for Rowan not to have a few words at hand) as they made their way round Sainsburys, picking out his Smarties birthday cake and some pizzas for his birthday tea.

A small selection of friends arrived at 4pm: Duncan and Sandy and two ladies, Emma and (girl) Finn. Boy Finn was predictably highly strung as the youngsters ran about playing, and threw a tantrum or two despite the fact it wasn't his party. Rowan seems delighted to be four (and he has been building up to it for a while now, expecting all sorts of wonderful talents to befall him, such as being able to play games on the Wii) and blew out the candles on his cake with gusto. He has turned down the whingeing a notch or two the past month and we can only hope he steadily starts to act a bit more "grown up" when he's asked to do something that he disagrees with, like finish his dinner or help tidy up, rather than turn the lip and do the Rowan the Red face that I first saw in glorious technicolour (well, red anyway) about twenty minutes after his birth and have witnessed most days since. The house would be much quieter without Rowan's vocal and boisterous interventions and we might have a chance to sit and watch TV without him treating us as a living climbing frame, but it wouldn't be the Wallace family without Rowany-Bo in the mix. Happy birthday, dimple boy!