Happy Birthday Thumper!

It's been a whole year since Thumper emerged into the world (well actually it will be a whole year in about 1 hour's time, since she was born at 4.49 pm).

Her birthday celebrations began on Sunday when we had a lovely little party with family and friends. It was to be a teddy bears' picnic at a local park but the Spring-time weather was not at it's most cooperative, so we invaded Gran and GrandPaul's house instead. In attendance to honour the birthday girl was: DeepSpice, me, BallFiend, Gran, GrandPaul, CutLuce, DesignerSis, Wigward, DesignerMonkey, The Bibliophile, MasterW, LittleMissIz, The Librarian, MasterF, LittleMissF, GreatAuntF and GreatUncleM and ElspethR.

The birthday cake was a raspberry butter cake - raspberries because Thumper is an expert at blowing them!

Today, Thumper's actual birthday, began at 6.30 am, when we woke to hear BallFiend yelling at the poor child: "Be quiet Thumper! You are being too noisy!" Apparently, Thumper was murmuring in her sleep and it was loud enough to rouse BallFiend; he in turn woke Thumper by yelling at her. Sigh.

The morning went by as usual: breakfast, getting dressed, etc. then waving goodbye to DeepSpice. Thumper has recently become very attached to her dad and she always cries when he leaves. Today was no exception - I stood with Thumper in my arms, waving bye to DeepSpice, whilst she attempted to lurch from my arms after DeepSpice, saying "Da! Da!" (no, not channeling our Russian ancestors... she does actually mean 'dad').

Next, it was time to take BallFiend to his Kinder Circus class, so as usual, Thumper was dragged along. During the class I took her for a walk in the pram so she got to have her morning nap. (Essential for today, because she had an important birthday lunch date ahead!).

After Kinder Circus, I took BallFiend for a stroll to allow Thumper to have a full hour's nap. BallFiend wasn't too impressed with having to wander around for a while, but he did enjoy seeing a fire engine, a water-company worker opening up a drain, a local primary school and the opportunity to ask me question after question about the street trees... Why:

• does this tree have a post [stake] next to it?
• does that tree not have a post but it does have a broken post?
• are these little pebbles on the ground around the tree?
• is there a hole there? [a spot where a tree used to be]

At 11.40 am it was time to wake Thumper up so we could head off to lunch at Heide with VolubleK and PetitAmi. Lunch at Cafe Vue was an experience, very nearly civilised... if it wasn't for BallFiend's (lack of) table manners and Thumper throwing her food all over the floor. But Voluble K and I enjoyed ourselves anyway... once we had a glass of bubbles in hand, nothing much else mattered! :)

After lunch, PetitAmi and BallFiend ran amok in the sculpture park whilst Voluble K and I took turns pushing the pram around... until PetitAmi realised she was missing her chance and took over the pram-pushing duties.

Then it was time to go home, where I got the news that Australia now has a (very, very, very minority) government. What a great birthday present for Thumper!

For the record, here's the other gifts that were bestowed upon you:

• a jack-in-the-box (actually a monkey-in-the-box);
• Playmobil 'coastal search and rescue' boat and car, with two people to drive them;
• a stacking ring ball toy;
• "Where is the green sheep?" by Mem Fox;
• "Can you Moo too?" by David Wojtowycz (a board book);
• clothing: a Sooki Baby wrap-around top, socks, hat;
• Miffy blocks that both nest and stack;
• a Roll Along Ball (a large inflatable ball with little bell-balls inside);
• Wooden letters that spell her name (for the bedroom door);
• an oil painting of a teddy bear (a shared family heirloom from VolubleK);
• a soft-toy snowman.

And guess who has had the most enjoyment (so far) out of all the toys? Yes, of course it is BallFiend.

So, happy birthday Thumper! Over the past year you've made us laugh, kept us company on countless nights (sigh), and despite the exhaustion, brought us lots of joy. We love you and we are looking forward to watching you grow up despite feeling sad that your babyhood is fast disappearing.

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