I had a wonderfully low-key afternoon with ai731 yesterday. It’s truly astonishing how simply having someone else in the room with Liam and I reduces the stress, because with two pairs of adult eyes on him each doesn’t have to pay quite as much attention to every little thing he does, so I end up relaxing with him instead of monitoring him. It’s a nice change.

She also brought me a birthday present: a full colour print of the Invisible poster she did for a class project! It’s awesome! Now I can pin it up on my wall or my door and geek out ’cause they’re so cool.

I also got other birthday gifts last night from Scarlet and Blade: books (on music and mysticism and magical tools and women’s spiritual coming-of-age stuffs), plus dark Godiva chocolate and a beanie fox kit! I am thoroughly birthdayed.

And Tal is in the process of organising a birthday thing for me, which is very very nice, because it was starting to look like I wasn’t going to get a birthday thing at all this year (again). It’s ironic that all the years I didn’t want the attention on my birthday I and everyone else was free, but now that in recent years I’ve wanted to formally celebrate it, stuff keeps getting in the way and the event never quite happens. So yay for people you’ve known for almost two decades (yikes) stepping in and making sure you get what you want.

Today Liam meets Prospero’s Daughter (whose link I have misplaced, alas), and we all play for a bit. Hurrah!