The Kids’ Birthdays

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(Ack, this post has been sitting half-finished in Semagic for way too long. 😛 Time I got back on the LJ horse. Probably also time I thought of a better metaphor.)

Riley had his third birthday. They gave him a little party at school, we all sang for him and ate those little school cups of foamy vanilla ice cream. He was happy to have me there, it was really sweet. And he’s been treating me better overall, we’re seeing lots of gradual improvement in his behavior in general. On Saturday we had our family birthday party for him, out at his grandparents’ place in the country. He had fun with his new garden tools, he helped his mom plant some flowers. He really loved the toy fishing pole and fish we got him.

For his birthday cake I did Devil’s Food, because he is, as he would say, a “handsome debbil.” It took a while to do from scratch, with Cook’s Illustrated’s usual level of mild overcomplication, but it turned out impossibly light and velvety. I would do it again for an occasion like this.

I think I tend to forget how young Riley is, because he’s so intellligent and articulate. When I think about other toddlers I’ve known, I worry that I’ve expected too much of him. On the other hand, none of those others has been quite like him; seems like they’re probably not a very good barometer anyway.

And then Lydia turned a year old almost a week later. Her party was out at the grandparents’ too. She didn’t care much for Riley’s birthday cake, so we went with an ice cream cake for her. She loved it of course. We got her a stuffed cow which we named MooMoo, and a toy tractor and barn. MooMoo’s not her favorite bedtime buddy, but she has a special place in Lydia’s pre-bedtime routine now.