Noah turned three recently, and we had four small birthday celebrations with him, instead of one big party, because after his first birthday party, we decided that we won’t be having any more parties until he is old enough to properly appreciate them.
The birthday festivities started earlier this year, mainly because one of my god-sisters was due to give birth in mid-July, and we made the last minute decision to have it at her place two weeks earlier. That was a good move, because she gave birth a few days after that celebration!
Noah’s not a fan of chocolate, so he chose a mango cake from Four Leaves for the celebration that day. The cousins all had fun playing together that evening, after our takeaway dinner from Siam Society. With four boys on this side of the family, we figured it’s easier to have our meals at home, rather than deal with the chaos at a restaurant. I erm, completely forgot to take photos of everyone, and only managed to get a photo of the cake, and of us with Noah. I still can’t believe that happened, but there’s always next year, right?
The cake
Cutting the cake together
With his presents and angpows
For Noah’s birthday celebration in school, I brought him to Bengawan Solo to select the design for his cake. He’s a huge fan of McQueen, and I was so glad to learn that Bengawan Solo has a rather wide variety of character cakes, including McQueen, of course. The order for the cake had to be placed at least three days before the date of collection, so Noah kept asking me where his cake was, in the days after we went to place the order. Haha.
“I like this one!”
We opted to celebrate his birthday on the day before the actual day, so that he could have the day off on his actual birthday. I was feeling rather sentimental that morning, and took a quick photo of him asleep in his cot, to mark his last morning as a two-year-old. When I woke him up, he was really excited, because I had collected his cake the night before, and knew we were going to have a small celebration in his school that day. He selected his own clothes for that day, and was in a really good mood the entire morning. I was worried that he would get upset when we left the school after the celebration, so I reminded him a few times that we would have to leave after eating the cake in his classroom, and he promised not to cry when we did.
Last morning as a two-year-old!
Overly-excited child and his cake
He looked rather shell-shocked on stage, when all the kids sang Happy Birthday to him during assembly, but was quick to blow out the candles on the fake cake after that. His form teacher then brought him to the microphone, so that he could say, “Thank you!” which I thought was a nice touch. C and I slipped away for a quick lunch after that, as we had to be back in his school an hour later.
On stage
Blowing out the candles
When we got back, Noah’s teachers got the children to sit on their little chairs a slight distance away from Noah and his cake, because from prior experience, EVERYONE would rush to blow out the candles, so this way, the birthday child would get to blow out his own cake’s candles. Such a simple trick, but so effective! Noah rushed to blow out the candles the second the song ended, so I guess that’s really what happens when all the kid are crowded around the cake. Noah was especially happy that one of his favourite classmates had a present for him, and he insisted on having it placed next to his cake. We got him to serve the slices of cake to his friends, and some asked for second and third helpings. So nice to see kids enjoying their food! Noah waved goodbye cheerfully when we left, and when I picked him up from school later, he chattered happily away about his “birthday party”, so I think he had a great time, even though it was a really simple celebration.
Our little family in the classroom
I managed to convince him that he could only open his presents on his actual birthday, and tried my best to stretch the presents out over a few days. He loved the set of emergency vehicles from his classmate, and was thrilled with the remote controlled car from C’s mum. I was rather hesitant to give him my gift after he opened those two presents, since it seemed so simple in comparison, but thankfully, my little boy seemed equally happy with it, and even went to grab his special birthday lanyard from school to wear as I read it to him. Of course, he had Tiger by his side when I read the book to him for the first time too, and I loved how he hugged Tiger tightly as I read it. (You can read some pages from the book in this post.)
From his classmate
From his Ah Po
From mummy
C went out to get a cake for our impromptu celebration that evening, since my mum was on leave that day, and had come over to play with Noah. The carrot cake from Cedele is one of our favourites, but Noah didn’t like it. Oh well, more cake for the rest of us!
Happy birthday Grandma and Noah!
Family photo
The next day, I allowed him to open the present from my Dayre friends, sent from Malaysia with love, and it was really quite perfect for him, as it had all his favourite things. After we read the McQueen book and played with the police car, he asked to play with his new remote controlled car, and so we did. He had (and still has) difficulties controlling it, and kept crashing it into things. C brought him downstairs to play with it, so that there were less obstacles around, but apparently, it didn’t make much of a difference. Haha.
From my Dayre friends
Playing with his remote controlled car
Noah had been bugging me to build his new Lego set from my parents, so we sat down together on Saturday morning to work on it. He’s still not very good with the small pieces, but I got him to work on the more manageable bits, like the figurines and the wheels. I really enjoyed working on the vehicles, and Noah really liked playing with them, so it was a win-win situation.
From his grandparents
The highlight of the day was definitely his birthday cake which I ordered from Bee’s Cake, for our small family celebration at home. I got the Cars cake toppers online, passed them to Bee, and asked her to design the cake. We usually get our cakes from her, so I knew she could be trusted to come up with something nice. When Noah saw the cake, he exclaimed, “Wowwwww… I love it!” It was a vanilla cake with strawberry filling, since those are Noah’s favourites, and everyone agreed that it was a really yummy cake. Noah had two slices of it for breakfast the next day!
THE Cake!
Photos galore
After the cake-cutting, it was time to open presents again. His younger cousin was so cute, sitting next to him patiently, waiting for him to open the present from his family!
Opening his present
C got him a set of dinosaurs, since he’s been pretty into dinosaurs recently, so we’ve been having quite a few dinosaur attacks since then. He even napped with the t-rex the other day, after telling it, “Don’t bite me k?” Hahaha. I We worked on his new Lego set the next day, and he has been very busy ferrying the cars and dinosaurs around on the transporter!
Dinosaurs at war
Car/Dinosaur Transporter
Happy third birthday, darling! May God continue to watch over you, and bless you with good health and abundant joy!
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