The boy turned 14

In the yearly update, the boy has turned 14!

The screen is his best friend. There’s a lock now on the phone and am trying to crack the password without success.

The early morning hugs continue but are sometimes forced or forgotten.

There’s some role reversal. He comes to tuck me in bed now. I think it is because he gets more time with the phone in bed.

School started a few weeks ago. My annual ritual of adjusting trouser waists and trying out uniforms was discontinued this year. Every year, he tries on the new uniform and I adjust the waist of his trousers as he still surprisingly thin. This year, he came out of the room fully dressed and he told me he did it himself. No thank you! That’s one more task taken off me. He doesn’t need his mother. One more less thing for me to do for him.

——————————————————-

How’s school?

It’s fine.

Need any help with homework?

Nah, I got it.

——————————————————-

Still a kind soul and big helper around the house. We had many guests over this summer, extended families from India, Dubai and London at the same time over a two week period. The usually glued to screen boy turned into a proper host, serving guests, chatting animatedly, helping out with things to do around the house.

He has developed a passion for gardening, he won’t admit it yet. Anytime I am in the garden, mowing the lawn of cutting down plants, he is there asking if I need help and I plead my thanks and let him take over. I assume the role of a guide and tell him what needs done. He does the work because he thinks I can’t do it anymore (mom’s getting old) I let him do it as an excuse to spend more time with him.

——————————————————-

The conversations have changed too.

Me: S, what’s vaping?

S: It’s like an e cigarette. It’s pretty common. A few school mates do it regularly. There’s going to be a ban on disposable vapes though.

Me: (left wondering where he gets all this information from and how does he know so much about it?) I see..

——————————————————-

He had to choose his subjects this year for the SQAs next year.

How are you getting on with the new subjects, do you like them? Are you enjoying studying these topics?

Some I like, others not so much.. they are boring!

Well, why did you choose them then? You could have chosen cooking? You like to cook.

Cooking you could teach me. I’m good at the subjects that bore me. Just because am good at it, doesn’t mean I like them. They are going to help me get a good job and earn more.

Me: 😮

——————————————————-

So onwards and upwards we go from here. Learning new things from my son is exhilarating. I keep smiling like a fool as he tells me things (some I know, some I don’t) because in my mind he is still a baby.

A corruption of blood

Thanks to Canongate for a review copy.

A Corruption of Blood is the third chapter in this wonderful historical medical mystery series set in Victorian Edinburgh. Although each book is a complete story, the larger and ongoing character arc of Raven and Fisher builds up with each book. I think they should be read in order for the characters and their behaviours to make sense. This was one of the darker ones of the three. Many real historical characters appear on the pages along with Raven and Fisher.

The story picks up a few months after the end of the previous book, Sarah is in Paris to meet Elizabeth Blackwell, famous as the first woman to get a medical degree, in the hope of studying further herself, while Raven is still working as assosiate assistant to Professor Simpson’s and living in his house. Sarah returns home disappointed and then learns that Raven is engaged to Eugenie, daughter of an eminent doctor. We see Raven and Sarah get into different complicated situations which require further investigation. Sarah needs to hide her feelings when they are thrown together in apparently two different investigations – the poisoning of a wealthy person apparently by his son and the discovery of a dead baby wrapped up in a parcel by the Water of Leith. What follows is an investigation through Victorian Edinburgh with its sights and smells. We learn about the dark side of life for women in the Victorian era and the choices or lack thereof forced on them.

While the mysteries are solid, the other compelling reason to read these books is the developing relationship between Will and Sarah. Their character arc builds throughout the three books and it will be interesting to see how their relationship moves forward from this point onwards.