Joining the technology revolution.

Not me, but the Husband! It's his birthday tomorrow (fast approaching yet another significant milestone, great excuse for a party in three years...) and he still has a really old mobile phone, one with push buttons and everything!

To fill in a gap or two, he works in retail and until six months ago was in a management position; sadly working 3 weekends out of 4 plus several evenings a week took it's toll on our family life and when it started affecting the kids negatively we took the decision that we should effectively do a job swap. So, now I work full-time while he works part-time and has taken over most of the housework/childcare/shopping/cooking duties. It's been interesting! Certainly a massive overall improvement in our family life, and dare I say it we are better off financially as I earn significantly more than him. He is better at hoovering than I am, has finally learnt to stick to my shopping list rather than filling the trolley up with crap at twice the price, and I enjoy sitting down with a glass of wine in the evening rather than having to rush around cooking and making packed lunches.

But the most surprising part (and entertaining for me looking at it from a now thankfully detached point of view) is what happens at the school gate; previously I would run in, dump the kids, run out asap. But he is far more confident and sociable than I am, and has decided to immerse himself in school life. He's searched out all the other dads who drop their kids off regularly and has formed a little clique - but not to the exclusion of the mums at all, in fact seems hell-bent on bringing them all together! My son now goes on regular playdates, something I always shied away from as a) I always had his younger sister to lug around (and she is not the easiest child in the world) and b) I love my own children but many others leave me cold so the return visit would be painful. The Husband has also put together a social group of friends, other men to drink with, go on bike rides with, talk bollox with. Good on him, he's achieved more in six months than I ever dreamt of!

So, it came up in conversation recently that he's been topping his PAYG monstrosity up with a tenner a month, mainly to organise the above-mentioned social lives! Seeing as he could get a smartphone for pretty much that, plus one of his new buddies is a technophile and has been working on converting him, I decided to get him one for his birthday tomorrow. Oh, maybe I should also mention that I couldn't think what else to get him he hasn't actually asked for anything, so it makes sense. He is now the proud owner of a Samsung Galaxy Y (with the Y standing for Young which amuses me no end!) and cannot wait to get started on downloading apps, getting on Facebook, and texting his mates about which pub they are meeting in. Just as soon as he can work out how to turn it on...