100 Happy Days - Day 3: Arnan's third birthday

Today my baby boy turned three! I can't describe how proud I am to be his Mama, to have him as my son and to have the privilege of watching him grow up. He is such an incredible person and personality - rambunctious and fun loving, yet sensitive and sweet-spirited, with a wicked sense of humour.
He had such a great day today. He woke up in a good mood and enjoyed being sung Happy Birthday to, and then opening pressies. He was even down with Amélie receiving a pressie on his birthday, and gave it to her before he took his first present. We tried to get him a few of the things he's really wanted - a bicycle helmet for his balance bike (and just generally wearing around the house), wellies for gardening and "mowing" the lawn with his bubble lawnmower (still a favourite he received as a birthday party gift last year), a kiddies' umbrella (he loooooves umbrellas), and books (we ♥ books!). Ami got her own children's cutlery set (like Arnan's), a small feather duster (her favourite thing to carry around the house was the one we use - icky!), a small dustpan and brush, some colourful scourers, and a book of action nursery rhymes.
After opening pressies, during which there were a few moments of confusion between Christmas and it being his birthday, Arnan enjoyed Maltabela for breakfast (he calls it chocolate pappies because of the colour) and ate a whole carrot because that's what his Pappa had for breakfast on the way to work, while watching Bugs Bunny. We lounged around in our pajamas, watching Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes, snuggling on the couch for most of the morning!
In spite of my best efforts I just could not get to baking Arnan's birthday cake ahead of time for the small celebratory tea we had planned for the afternoon, which meant that we also baked a cake! Arnan especially enjoyed the tasting the batter and the licking the beater parts, and was very involved with helping to make the icing. To say I was stressed at his involvement (mostly because I only had just enough of the ingredients and he has a tendency to unwittingly spill them - yes I have control issues I am trying to deal with) / Ami's need to see what was going on and therefore needing to be picked up / watching that the kids don't touch our scathingly hot oven is an understatement. So my voice began to raise proportionately to my stress-levels. At one point Arnan looked at me and said, "don't shout me Mama". I immediately realised what I was doing and apologised to him, explaining why I had been acting the way I had and why it was wrong, and he happily gave me a big hug - my sweet sweet boy. Somehow that lifted the atmosphere, and made me realise what was really important - Arnan's birthday and spending time with him. Strange how easily I had lost focus on the purpose of the cake in the first place!
We had a lovely, although chaotic, birthday tea with Aunty Paula, Roark, Aidan, Granma and our surprise guest from next door, Zidaan, who is just a few months older than Arnan. Of course Arnan was incredibly excited about his birthday cake, singing Happy Birthday and blowing out his candles. This is the first birthday he has really been able to appreciate the occasion for himself, I think previously he was just too young to grasp the concept of a birthday. With all the excitement and playing and protecting his toys from his cousins (he is still very much in the "mine" phase), Arnan only got to eating his slice of birthday cake after everyone had left. Boy did he savour it, while sipping tea from my porcelain teacup with a teaspoon.

Arnan was fooling around after eating his birthday cake and ended up acting silly on the grass. His Pappa was home, he'd had a great day, he was on a sugar high after 4 o'clock in the afternoon (we usually discourage sugar after 4) and life rocked. At the time of these photos he was laughing uproariously, and it was infectious! I'd say Arnan was mirthful! Even when looking back at the photos I can't help but laugh out loud :)

Adjective: mirthful  (murth-ful) Full of or showing high-spirited merriment
"a mirthful laugh"; - WordWeb Online

Thereafter, Nico and I sat outside chatting while Arnan played in the garden with some of his new toys and Ami had a late nap. Arnan played with sand from the flower beds late into the early evening until Ami woke up and we had dinner. Nico and the kids watched a few YouTube videos before bed... And Arnan went to bed a very tired, very happy three year old.