I can tell that we are gonna be friends

I utterly urge you to listen to my beloved Jack White when viewing this. The most naturally accomplished guitarist and musician IMHO, he's always sent a shiver through my spine singing this and now more than ever...

There's about to be a long and sad farewell between these boys, except they don't know it. The three of them are absolutely the best of friends.

So we tried to do a little fun shoot with them all in their pristine, straight off the tags white shirts, Mary's idea. But were they having any of it with the white backdrop? No siree.

So out on Reuben's balcony they ran. And in so doing, captured a moment of preciousness which completely encapsulates each of their characters.

First Reuben's classmate at the special ed programme, now Callum's. And when Callum and Alexander, Marys son, were sitting playing dinosaurs side by side on their little table at UCLA school and Alexander (which Callum pronounced perfectly for the first time today) was called out of the room, I can't describe the look of despair on Callum's face as he watched him slowly leave the room, the door closing behind him and then waiting for him to return. Unbeknown to me at the time, it would be for the last time. This I saw from the Observation Room with the one way mirror. It was much like Callum's face today as Mary left the house, much like yesterday's (we've been doing a lot of fun things before they leave to live in Boston), "Mary's car?. A-le-x-aaaaaaaaaaa-n-deeeeeer" and despair following.

He's just echoing what I'm feeling at the moment I guess, except I'm a mummy and not allowed to show it.

I always feel when you say farewell to young children, it has some finite quality to it. Call me overly sentimental, yes. But it is a farewell with the knowledge that the child will have grown when next you see them. With the years they'll be echos of the person they were back then, now taller, chattier, that in itself alarming, but you will be saying bye bye to the little child they are now and will never be again.

L to R: Reuben on the dancefloor, Alexander on abacus, Callum on chewy, blowy thingy.