The Boy Who Has Everything: A Birthday Dilemma

Pip is 19 today. In some ways -- vocabulary, insights, sense of humor -- he's always been old beyond his calendar years. But in other ways he hasn't changed all that much since he was a toddler stacking soda cans on the kitchen floor.

We haven't bought him a gift yet. He doesn't need much of anything but he's been angling for a three-volume history of China so I'll probably invest in the first volume and see how it goes. He hasn't asked me to buy him a book for nearly a year. College does that to a person I suppose.

I think the best gift I can give him right now is my time. When I tried that the day before yesterday, he dragged me into Pokemon Center in Yokohama. I lasted all of three minutes before escaping to the book store to hunt down the British version of the Harry Potter series. His father has a greater tolerance for Pikachu than I.

"If I was too old for Barbie at 10, you're too old for Pikachu at 19!"

This week I think we'll spend some quality time folding laundry together and cleaning his room.  Maybe I'll teach him how to pot plants.