347/365
Little R LOVED his birthday party. We and two other sets of grown-ups organised a joint party between him and two friends who are conveniently born within a five-day period. We'd talked a lot about the party beforehand (and one of his favourite books is 'Alfie Gives a Hand' by Shirley Hughes, which is about a toddler birthday party) so he was pretty excited. All morning, as we prepped food he kept singing 'Happy Birthday' to himself*.
The hall was freezing, like it always is, so it was a good thing his costume was fleece and hooded - helped to keep his lips from turning any more blue. And he had a brilliant couple of hours. He played with his friends happily, he ran up to us every now and then for a cuddle and to say hello. But the best moment, for him was the singing of 'Happy Birthday'. His face split into a proud smile as everyone burst into song for him and his friends. As soon as the song was complete, he leant forwards and blew out his candles like a pro. Then he pointed to Little A's candle, instructing him to "Bow! Bow!" Next, he whipped out the candles and handed them to me so he could tuck in. Sadly, Little R doesn't like cake. Or icing. So he nibbled off his snail's face, then had some more crisps to take away the taste before returning to the important business of balloon chasing, trike riding and chasing.
Happy, happy days.
* his version sounds like this:
"Ha bir-day to you,
Ha bir-day to you,
Ha bir-day to youuuu
Ha bir-day to you."
Sometimes he substitutes his name, or ours for the "you" bit. He's really got the tune though - even the variation on the third line is developing nicely. But his real start-turn is his fantastic rendition of 'Let It Go', complete with dramatic armography. Absolutely hilarious, and happily captured on video!