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Seven today

19th July 2010 by Helena 1 Comment  

There is nothing quite like the build-up to a birthday for a child. Leo has been in a state of excitement for the past three months. and this morning it was finally time.

“It’s my birthday,” he told me at 6am. He was standing by the mirror. “Gosh I’m big,” he said measuring his height against the glass. “When I was six, I was just to here, and now I’m all the way up to here.”

I have been spending more time with him than ever before with the girls gone and Rupert busy with Hugo and Julia who have arrived with a possy of friends.

Last weekend Leo and I had practically two days together, watching New Moon, playing chess (he beat me every time) and football (indoors naturally, and yes he beat me, 10-3) and just chatting.

At one stage I added something to my novel. He was standing behind me reading over my shoulder.

“Mummy, your book is going to be really great,” he said earnestly. “I know, I just read a bit, and I REALLY liked it.”

So I am assured of a best-seller. Maybe I should hire Leo as my publicist.

He opened his presents this morning and I KNOW he was was hoping for an electric guitar but the only one we could find was several hundred pounds and twice as big as him. So he got a funny kind of skateboard in two pieces that looks impossible but I thought would be good for his ballet balance, some clothes, a book and a Spiderman lego game.

I have to say, nothing that really made his little face light up with pure joy (well, maybe the Spiderman thing did a bit) and I felt awful.

Having said that it is still only 10am. I am taking the afternoon off work and there are more presents to come from other people as well the cake ceremony (in the shape of a football baked by my friend Noch) and a trip to a kids’ fair so there is time to make it the memorable day he so longed for.

Happy Birthday to my little man.

PS Here is Noch’s cake

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2010


Filed Under: Children, blog --> Tagged With: seven, today

One thought on Seven today

  • mimi says:
    20th July 2010 at 4:04 pm

    I must say, reading his present list, you did very well.
    Having read an article at the weekend about parents spoiling their kids, and putting terrible pressure on them, you’re doing a great job.
    He’ll remember the time spent with you more than anything, and so will you!
    Happy 7th Birthday Leo!

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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