A super day last weekend. Freddie invited three of his friends (Aden, Jack and Phoenix) and their siblings to Titiwangsa Park (yes, I know) for a birthday picnic. It was a hot and sweaty KL morning, but we all had fun and, as hoped, the kids ran off most of their sugar consumption before being poured into cars and taken home for some well-earned naps. We had horse-draw carriage rides by the lake, a little bit of scooter / bike riding, some party games and a picnic in the shade. We worked off the double-chocolate Batman cake with a play in the playground and headed off for a shower and sleeps. Great fun, with minimal tantrums - incredible given the humidity and heat. Even the parents behaved themselves! Photos are below.
Thanks to all who sent lovely messages, cards, phone calls and presents. He was totally spoilt! The super thing was, this was his first birthday that he really 'got it'. His face as he was peeling wrapping paper and peering inside was delightful, and every gift was inspected and played with before moving on to his next one. He can be quite a sensitive chap, we are discovering.
My story of the day was, whilst bathing in the glow of being 'Super-Mum', waving at my little boy as the bus pulled away for school on his birthday, my neighbour calmly asked me if I had checked the 15 mini chocolate cakes I'd bought for Freddie's class for nuts. Never before has such a high drained out of me so fast. I leapt into the path of the U-turning bus, waved it to a screeching halt, pummeled the door to gain admittance and ripped open the bag of cakes that Freddie was proudly clutching. Snarfing a Ben 10 cake in front of 30 amazed elementary school children and two gobsmacked bus monitors, I faced a dilemma. How accurate was my nut detector at 7.10 a.m. on a Friday morning, under this pressure, with an incredulous audience? The sense of foreboding was painted all over Freddie's face. Is she going to rip this bag of sweet-smelling delights out of my hands? His knuckles grew whiter.
I let it go. He kept his cakes. The bus trundled on its merry way with even more of its passengers thinking I was a loon (there's usually a story a week where one of us make a tool of ourselves at bus time). I raced to school and contacted his teacher - did anyone in his class have a deadly nut allergy?
All turned out well and the kids had a super day, cake and all. I was relieved not to have been the lead role in 'Mummy-cake-snatcher' as Freddie's first vivid memory. I think even I will dig out the oven gloves, dust off the spatula and crack open Jamie's bible in order to bake something 100% nut-free for the next birthday. The stress nearly finished me off. "It's like sending a bomb into school" will ring in my ears every time I eye up a store-bought treat for a kiddy event from now on...gone are the days when a pack of Jammy Dodgers will do as I race home late after a meeting.
It is all fun and games, but wow, parenting is a steep learning curve.
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