For the birthday girl, turning 3 was her coming of the age at which she not only knows exactly what she wants, but also how to get precisely that which she wants. She asked for a repeat of her 2nd year picnic party with the family at the beach.
A week before her birthday, Mr Fluffy Hubby and I brought her there. We laid out the picnic mats and handed her healthy portions of Earth’s Best organic apple and pear cookies while gorging ourselves silly on the bizarre combination of the best nonya zhangs we’ve ever tasted and Chipsters hot and spicy potato chips. Having filled her tummy (and ours), she set out on a mission (on which we tagged along). She found herself a wooden stick and used it to sift the sand for pebbles and seashells which she then dropped into her pail of water.
When her grandfather and uncle arrived, they dutifully and back-breakingly scouted the beach for more pebbles and seashells. Her grandfather found her the most beautiful shells. They were so exquisite that when she saw them, she smiled and declared, butterflies.
After combing through the entire section of the beach we were camping at for about an hour, she finally decided that her collection was complete, and went on to play with her big bouncy ball, throwing it around with us.
But it wasn’t long before her grandfather stole her away to the edge of the sea.
That day, however, she was not keen on letting the waves gush up her legs. Probably, she was tired out from her treasure hunt. So we took photos against the sea and the sky instead. That evening, the moon was perfect. It was the luminous white moon of Eric Carle’s books. She pointed and proclaimed it, Santa Claus, whom she associates with Eric Carle.
Before we left the beach, she and I carried the pail of pebbles and seashells to the edge of the sea. I passed the pebbles and seashells one by one to her, and she dropped them back into the sea. Even the butterfly seashells.
We returned to the same Irish pub along the beach – Scruffy Murphy’s – as the year before, for dinner. The food was just as good.
This year, I finally ordered her the agar agar cake I’d been wanting to get her throughout all her celebrations. This year, I consulted her on the design, colour and flavour of her birthday cake. So this year, she got the cake of her heart’s desire – orange bear-shaped agar agar cake in chocolate flavour with flowers blossoming at the bear’s feet and butterflies fluttering all around the bear.
She was delighted; her grandfather was ecstatic. He held her in his arms throughout, letting her go for only the few minutes when he had to hand her over to Mr Fluffy Hubby and me for photo-taking.
We took photos, we sang her the Mandarin and English versions of the birthday song, I made a wish on her behalf and then helped her blow out her number 3 candle.
She took all the orange agar agar flowers for herself, gave all 3 agar agar butterflies to her grandparents, all the pink agar agar flowers to me, and left me to distribute the rest of the blue (all for her cousin RC), purple (all for my BFF S) and yellow agar agar flowers (for anyone else who was lucky enough to be nearby – there were only 4!).
Her grandfather and her stuffed themselves with at least two (probably more) helpings of her agar agar cake.
Before we went home, I blew bubbles for her outside the pub, just like last year. This year, however, instead of needing to be carried by her grandfather to catch the bubbles, she was running around on her own chasing after them, squealing in delight whenever she managed to almost grasp one in her hands. This year, instead of pointing out the bubbles to her and urging her to pop them, we had to reach out to yank her back to us as she dashed into unsuspecting pedestrians.
That night, lying in bed, she fell asleep talking about using her stick to search for pebbles and seashells, butterfly seashells from her grandfather, returning them to the sea, the moon that was Santa Claus, her orange agar agar bear cake with butterflies for her grandparents, orange flowers for herself and pink flowers for me, and repeatedly, jubilantly, how she’s now 3 years old. That night, not only her dream of a birthday picnic party with the people she loves, but also her dream of growing up with their love, came true.
Read also:
3rd Birthday (Part II)
3rd Birthday (Part III)
3rd Birthday (Part IV)
3rd Birthday (Part V)
3rd Birthday (Part VI)
Hi, what a lovely cake!! Do you mind sharing where did you get the cake from as well as the costs? It looks really yummy and pretty.. =)
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email eileen for her catalogue and prices: ejellyagaragar@gmail.com 🙂
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