Happy Birthday Calum

Calum with his Iron Man birthday card

Calum turns 16
On Monday 2 October, Calum became an 'official' grown up when he turned 16.

Although he can't vote until he's 18, he can now choose to leave school, get married and get a job. He also has the 'privilege' of having to pay full fare for just about everything. Thank goodness for student rail cards!

Being 16 is a strange combination of looking and sounding like an adult, yet still feeling inwardly like a child in lots of ways. During the last year Calum has shot up and his voice has got considerably deeper. He's also grown out of nearly all his clothes and shoes!

All I can say is, 'so far, so good'. Calum is approaching adulthood with quiet confidence and is a polite, hard-working and very likeable young man. I get lots of positive comments about him which is a good sign.

Of course, he's not perfect and I wouldn't want him to be, but he is a real pleasure to be around and, as teenage boys go, I know I'm very lucky.

He's at the age when having money to spend is very important, so he was delighted when he received gifts of cash for his birthday, most of which he spent on comics and graphic novels. However, his favourite present was an NBA basketball as he's baksetball mad and plays several times a week.

He was also delighted with the Iron Man birthday card his dad made for him. As always, it took Joe a lot of time and effort, but it was definitely worth it for the smile on Calum's face.