Thing Two Turns 7!

Thing Two turned 7 today. He wore the shirt above under duress, because his father and I thought it would make a hilarious photo, and we were right. At least I think I was right. We are now passing this shirt on to another worthy soon-to-be 6-year-old.

In preparation for this post, I went back and reread previous Thing Two birthday posts. It was funny and fascinating to see the more things change, the more things stay the same. So in the spirit of that idea, I present this list of things I love about Thing Two:

The more things change:

1. He married his girlfriend Esme this year, in the playground. She is the cleverest girl in the class, so I keep telling him that you want to marry someone clever. But she should also make you laugh. When I asked him what he liked best about her, he said, "I don't know. I just look at her, and she makes me happy."

2. He's got a "back-up girlfriend", Isabella, who is equally lovely. How does a 7-year-old manage to attract two fantastic girls? It must be his curly hair andd impish grin. Isabella showed her affection for Thing Two by presenting him with a picture of Abraham Lincoln. Either she was showing her affection, or she didn't know any other American boys. I'm going with the latter.

3. He loves math, and is very good at it, so he now has a new moniker: Mr. Math.

4. He learned to ride his bike without his training wheels/stabilisers this year. By doing so, he beat both his brother and his mother by at least a year on this skill.

The more things stay the same:

1. His sunny nature, disposition, and enthusiastic laughter.

2. He's still Mr. Movie. This year, he's become absolutely transfixed by the rating system, because he knows he won't be able to see a 12. And all 15s are absolutely "scary", straight out of the box.

3. He is still incapable of walking quietly down the stairs. He can only jump from stair to stair, making an enormous racket as he does so.

4. He's a great helper in the kitchen, and he's getting better at cooking all the time. I keep telling him this will attract the ladies later in life. I don't think he believes me.

5. How he sings to himself when he's happy.

Happy Birthday, Thing Two. May you have many more.

NYT A Moment In Time Project

We're putting the "G" into the GMT for the Moment in Time project. Thing One and Thing Two revive and enjoy the Victorian tradition of tumbling down Royal Observatory Hill at Greenwich Park, London, on the Prime Merdiain (0 degrees longtitude) on a gray and rainy Sunday.

For those who haven't heard about this, the New York Times asked people around the world to take pictures on Sunday at 11 a.m. UTC, or 4 p.m. London time. This was my submission and caption. For more on the project, and to see some other early submissions, go to the New York Times photo blog here.