There are two amusing things about Alex’s birthday today.

The first is that everyone I work with insists that I’m too young to have teenaged children. Well, obviously that isn’t true, now is it? So we started early. So what? It just means we’ll have lots of time and energy to enjoy life after the kids are adults. (Let’s not think about “the g word,” though. Nuh-uh.)

The second is Alex himself. He’s a funny kid, and I don’t mean that in the snarky way. The boy has a genuinely keen sense of humor, so I decided to further his comedic education this year: I bought him the boxed set of Marx Brothers movies, featuring all five films that included all four brothers. This evening we watched Duck Soup (his choice), and I think Alex liked it. I picked Cocoanuts as the follow-up. Apparently restoration can only accomplish so much with such an old gem; the audio was as washed-out as I remember it. Such is life, I suppose.

Now I just need to figure out what I’m getting my daughter for her impending official entry into teenagerhood…