Sherlock was now eight years-old. His birthday hadn't been a very big affair, although the Holmes family could certainly afford to be extravagant. Only Mycroft and Mrs Hudson had attended and Sherlock was grateful for that. His mother hadn't yet made an appearance, but Sherlock never gave up hope. It was past nine o'clock- Sherlock's bedtime- when he decided to give up on her coming and go to sleep. He snuggled down into the blanket that Mrs Hudson had knitted for his birthday and looked over at his gift from Mycroft. It was a rather small violin. Sherlock wasn't sure what had spurred Mycroft to get him such a gift, but he was touched that his elder brother had gone to the trouble of getting the instrument made to be exactly his size.
Two months after his birthday, mid-March, Sherlock had already mastered the art of playing his violin. At first, the music had been scratchy and had made both Mycroft and Mrs Hudson wince, but now, he could carry a decent tune. Mycroft and Mrs Hudson were made to endure many of Sherlock's private "concerts", but now, they took great pleasure in listening to the young boy play. They both smiled proudly during these events and clapped enthusiastically afterwards.
Sherlock had changed considerably since being an infant. He no longer craved the attention of his brother, now being quite content to sit and read alone in his room. He was rather tall for an eight year-old and very mature. He still had his curly black hair, one of the only features that remained of his baby years, and still had green-blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence. He was rather on the thin side, unlike Mycroft, who got teased relentlessly by Sherlock for this. Mycroft didn't mind the teasing about his weight, but was genuinely concerned about Sherlock's size. He would be sure to keep an eye on what Sherlock was and wasn't eating at meals.
Their mother hadn't visited for three months now. The two boys supposed she was busy and were quite happy to be on their own. Sherlock was rather pleased about this arrangement, for it meant that the only adult left to tell him what not to do was Mrs Hudson, and she often turned a blind eye to Sherlock's antics. This meant that Sherlock could easily fulfil his latest obsession- science.
Sherlock had always been interested in how things worked and helping the human race move forward with new technologies and devices. He was particularly interested in chemistry and different chemical reactions. He had managed to acquire a substantial amount of chemicals and that was enough to keep his expanding brain busy.
It was nearing the summer time and Mycroft had planned to take Sherlock out to the local park to socialise and have a little fun. He could see how bored his little brother was getting, having read through every book in the house (which was quite a large number) and having completed all his experiments. Mycroft still felt bad about leaving Sherlock to entertain himself all day while he did his work, but he'd make it up to him during the summer.
Sherlock was absolutely bored out of his mind and was looking forward to the summer greatly. He and Mycroft were to spend the majority of the time alone as Mrs Hudson was to be given holiday time. He was excited for this, even though it meant giving up his one source of mother-like love for a few weeks. He wondered if Mycroft would still be up to play with him.