The sun is all hidden behind buildings by the time we go home. Only the tops of the trees still get some.

Adrian saw me holding my camera and wanted me to take a photo of his thumb.

His thumb is the mist in the middle of the photo.

When he wants to show me some small thing, he does the same – puts it in my face, so close that I cannot even focus on it.

Adrian’s homework each week is to read a chapter in their book, and answer a few questions in writing. The reading goes quickly and easily; the writing takes time.

Eric wants to make sloe cordial, and possibly also sloe gin and/or sloe wine, so we went picking. (The sloes are there and there’s plenty of them this year, so they are simply crying out to be used for something.)

Adrian gathered sticks, dragged them around, and used them to crush sloes. And shot sloes at me with his slingshot.

I learned that sloe bushes come in several varieties – I noticed at least two distinct ones. One had larger, more oblong berries, and larger, greener leaves. The other had more thorns; smaller, flatter berries, more like blueberries in shape; and its leaves were smaller and had already turned red.

That wall was meant to be climbed.

Adrian got a bunch of Pokemon-themed gifts: a Pokemon game for Nintendo, a Pokemon t-shirt with one of those reversible sequin pictures, a Pokemon key ring, and a box with Pokemon cards. Also a mini Rubic’s cube, and a cactus.

Waiting for swim school to start.

Adrian goes to Spårvägen swimming club’s swim school, just like Ingrid did when she was the same age. I really like Spårvägen – their approach to teaching kids to swim seems very sensible, and the kids generally enjoy their lessons. Even if Adrian isn’t always overjoyed to go there and sometimes tells me he’d rather not, by the time the lesson is over he is almost always having fun.