The first thing my son did this morning was careen across the loungeroom as fast as he could. "Look Mum!", he cried. "Look how much faster I can run now that I'm five!"
Jack's fifth birthday was a very happy, simple, lovely day. He was so delighted with himself, simply because he is now FIVE. If it's a huge milestone for me as a mummy, I can't imagine how big it feels to him.
We gave him a transformer truck - a really cool one, apparently (according to Daddy!). Let's just say that Optimus Prime has a loud machiney voice and does cool moving things, and shoots missiles. It basically ticks all the boxes for a five year old lad.
Jack also received a blue Wot Wot (because he had been desperate for one ever since Phoebs got a pink one for her birthday), which was promptly commandeered by the Mouse. When he unwrapped his Etch-A-Sketch, he exclaimed, "Cool! A doodle draw!!" We gently corrected him, simply so that he wouldn't be laughed out of Show And Tell next week, and then he spent a few hours happily doodling on his "Itchy Sketch". Cute.
I'd love to say that I'd planned all sorts of wonderful activities for my birthday boy today. But since we had enjoyed his party at the play centre with his school friends, my only priority for today was to spend it together. So after the presents and a few phone calls and brekkie, we packed the car and went to the park near our block of mud. The plan was to have a picnic and a play, and to let Archie and Daisy explore the leash-free area. The picnic and the play part of the plan went spectacularly - all three kids got stuck into the slide, the swings and the see-saw. And since Mais is still too little to do any of these things unassisted, I suppose I got into all of them too!!
We munched on rolls from the bakery and little red apples (or 'sports candy', as my little Sportacus likes to call it). Nothing special or extravagant. But I could tell Jack was having a fantastic day. He kept asking me if it was still his birthday. When I would say yes, he would clap his little hands and grin.
Since Archie was small enough to squeeze under the gates in the doggy area, we kept him on the lead and took him around to have a sniff. Daisy ran sedately around the park, finding interesting things to smell. Archie ran like a mad thing around my ankles and then fell into an exhausted sleep under the pram.
The kids had quiet time at home while I ran to the supermarket, and then this evening we had dinner at home with Narnie, Pa, Argie, Pippi, Miffy and Whale. Jack was absolutely spoiled rotten. A robot jumper from Argie, a sticker book from Pippi, a basketball and cricket set from Miffy and Whale, one of Pa's beautiful paintings - a dinosaur! - from Pa, a dinosaur sticker book, and then...the karaoke keyboard from Narnie and Pa. Oh, my goodness, the fun and the noise that was made sitting at that keyboard tonight! Even the Mouse managed to weasel her way onto the stool and bang out some *ahem* "tunes".
So you could say that we put a rather happy five year old boy to bed tonight. My Dad asked Jack what he had done today, and he was so excited as he told Pa all about going to the park, and having a picnic. It was such a simple day, and my boy had had the time of his life. It was so gorgeous to listen to him relate the story of his day to his Pa. And how lucky was I to spend such an important day with him?
As he had predicted, this morning he hadn't looked any different. I could still see my little baby in the birthday boy's face. But by this evening? This evening I could see glimpses of the boy he will become. And it's all beautiful. And no matter how big he gets, he'll still be my boy. Happy fifth birthday, Jack.
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