We took them to Dorbrook yesterday and it was warm enough to enter the Sprayground. But I was unprepared, so they rode home in wet clothes.

Jeff took Kenny to the Sprayground while I had Tim and Chris (and Ella) on the playground.

An older kid took a shine to Tim at one point. I saw him following Tim and whispering in Tim's ear. The kid wore all black, even his sandles, with some sinister character from The Incredibles on his printed T-shirt.

I watched intently and when the boy took Tim's upper arms in his hands and pushed him against the playground railing, I stood up and walked as close as possible to tell him to keep his hands to himself. After all, Tim's been beat up on playgrounds before, like last year on his birthday.

But I never got the words out because the boy's mother stepped to the railing and called her son over for a talk. Then she turned to me and assured me that her son has no intention of hurting Tim. He's just big for his size. I said that was fine but I was reacting to seeing her son take Tim's arms in his hands. She didn't seem to hear me say that and she had the boy himself assure me that he would not hurt Tim.

The thing is, the kid could be pounding Tim to a pulp and Tim would be smiling through it all because he's just so desperate for attention. Any kind of attention. 'Round here he only seems to get noticed when he misbehaves.