32

Yes, that's how old I am! At least, I think it is (without actually doing the sums).

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was a wonderful day, even though we didn't make a big deal about it. I visited my sister in the morning, and took her to the dentist to have a tooth out. She didn't want to have to drive home herself afterwards. DD and I walked around the shops while she was in the dentist, and DD was most excited, as it's the store we used to visit often before we moved, so she knows it well. I had promised her some felt pens, so we went looking for those first. The stationary store had two packets, one smaller one for $5, and a larger one for $10. I explained to DD that she had $10 to spend, so if she bought the larger one, she wouldn't have any money left, but if she bought the smaller one, it would only use half her money, so she choose the smaller one. I was most proud of her.

Then we went onto the bookstore, where she went to look at the kids books, while I had a quick look at the gardening ones in the next aisle. A few minutes later, she came over with a book and asked if she could buy it. To my surprise, it was a 2nd grade workbook! I had a quick flick through, but most of it was above her ability level, so I suggested we look at a few others. She finally settled on a counting to 20 sticker-book. I think I'll try to buy her one every now and then, now that she's showing an interest in them. I will also select a bunch of worksheets from Prodigy Pie and print them out and staple them into a book for her, and see how she likes that.

We had a bit more of a look around after that, and a few tantrums when she couldn't have other things that she wanted, but I stuck to the fact that her money was spent, and there wasn't anymore. I had a look at a few gardening books, but they were all about $40, so I decided to wait.

Then we dropped my sister home, and came home. Later in the afternoon, after recovering from her tooth, my sister and her husband came out, and we had a lovely barbeque in the cool of the afternoon. It was a wonderful relaxed evening. My sister's husband started the fire and cooked, and we sat around and ate and talked. I couldn't have asked for a nicer way to spend my birthday.