Daniel’s birthday is always around Ramadhan time so poor guy never really had a big celebration. The first year, we had a cake after terawih and a lot of people reading doa for him which was nice. Second birthday it was Ramadhan as well and we celebrated with a cake in an intimate setting. Intimate is just a nicer word for only-immediate-family-members-bothered-to-come haha. Then this year, it wasn’t Ramadhan but it was the third day of Raya which means a lot of people are still in their hometowns and not free. I even tried to order a cake but no one is taking orders because everyone was on holiday. Mariam had a huge 1st birthday and Daniel… well, he had a tub of half-eaten ice cream with spoons as candles at midnight today. Hehe.

My poor baby boy.

It was just the 4 of us this morning (oh and of course our Kakaks) so we took him to this petting zoo called Farm in The City recommended by some of my friends. It was really fun and definitely Daniel’s scene. We gave leaves to deers and turtles (or tortoises? I never know the diff), we fished, we saw crocodiles, we touched snakes, and Daniel even rode a pony! I also learned that Mariam is a huge scaredy cat just like me. When a parrot landed on Kak Siti’s head, Mariam flipped out and screamed and shouted and cried in fear. I did too. Like mommy, like daughter.

Then we saw both grandparents today, had a cake with proper candles this time, and we took him to my sister’s ex-husband’s open house at night. They had fireworks and when we watched from afar, Daniel said, “Mommy there is firework because it’s my birthday.” Didn’t want to hurt his feelings by telling him the truth, so I just stroked his hair and said, “Uh-huh, yep.”

I felt like I could have done better for his birthday celebration this year because we would have been on our family holiday now, but we had a last minute change of plans (more on that drama in another blogpost) so we had to improvise really quickly. But at the end of the night, I asked him, “So Daniel, did you like your birthday?”

“Yes, it was amazing!” 

“Aww really?? You had fun?”

“Yes I did, Mommy.”

“Awww, happy 3rd birthday my love.”

To my surprise, he hugged me and said, “Thank you, Mommy.”

“I love you, Daniel.”

“I love you too, Mommy.”

STOP BEING SUCH A SWEET LITTLE BOY DANIEL YOU ARE KILLING ME HERE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH OMG HOW DID I GIVE BIRTH TO SUCH A WONDERFUL BOY.

Daniel taught me today to be grateful. Be grateful in everything that happens in your life, and for everything that people do or say or give you, no matter how big or small. He probably doesn’t know any better, he’s just happy he got to eat cake really. But still, we could always learn a thing or two from kids’ behaviour. Even though I felt Daniel didn’t have such an amazing birthday, to him, it was the best birthday ever. And it’s all because of his sincere gratitude.