The Jeff turned 16 this week!
He’s making that face because I insisted on playing “Sixteen Candles” by The Crests, which made him totally embarrassed and it was totally satisfying. I count it a win every time my teenage son squirms and yells “Mooooooooom!”
Eleanor asked me to make a special evening trip to the store so she could pick out a present for him. Surprise, surprise : Magic cards. I’ve given up on trying to figure out if Jeff has any other interests.
Jeff asked for a Magic: the Gathering draft game party this year. He even invited — gasp — friends from school to this event. We’ve been trying to get him to do this for years.
Unfortunately, none of those friends showed up. It may be owing to the fact that Brian misprinted his phone number on the invitation Jeff handed out. We’ll never know. Fortunately, a couple other buddies from church, etc. showed up, so they still had a good (if shorter) tournament.
Also fortunately: Jeff is so very socially unaware that he didn’t register a trace of disappointment in his lame friends. His response was “oooh, more card packs for me!” and spent a long time stacking and organizing them all.
So it’s fortunate that my parents gave him a nifty new card carrying case.
Also, I knitted him this:
This is a dice bag shaped like Cthulu. It’s the Elder Dice-Bag. It may be the single most nerdy thing I’ve ever made, and that includes Jeff himself. I was worried that Jeff would be disappointed by the bag, but he was SO EXCITED when he saw it and spent a good amount of time gushing over how cool it was. (“The coolest thing ever!”) He even smiled a genuine smile!
(I also included some cool steampunk dice with little gears and curlicues all over the sides. I couldn’t resist them.)
As I write this, Jeff is playing more Magic with his dad and siblings. The Magic madness may never end. There are worse ways to burn through your time and money, so I don’t mind it at all. I only wish I could occasionally get my dining room table back.
As for The Big Question: yes, Jeff is juuuuust beginning to show an interest in learning how to drive. Specifically, he wants to be able to drive so he can get a job and earn more money for Magic cards.
[Brooke waves hands in “I give up” gesture]
Brian even let him carefully cruise around an abandoned parking lot this past week. Interesting developments are surely in store. I really love this brown-eyed boy.
And now, onwards to the next nerdy knitting project: a Hufflepuff scarf for William!
Casa Camisas 