The Last Little Birthday Party?

We decided to go low-key for Little L's birthday, but even we were not expecting it to be quite so, ahem, low-key. We had decorated with a banner and balloons in anticipation of the big day, per Little L's request. We asked our nanny to come in for just the morning so that Hubbs and I could hit the gym together before spending the rest of the day pampering our little monkey. Our dear nanny surprised Little L with some more balloons and a pink sock monkey that our little one absolutely *loves.* Why am I not surprised? ;)

As we worked out, the birthday girl enjoyed her giant lollipop and breakfast with the nanny. Afterwards the two of them baked, iced and decorated cupcakes. The fruits of their labour were enjoyed by all just before lunch. 

Then we picked up the cake. Little L was so excited to see it and eat it that we sang her the Happy Birthday song and let her have cake before lunch; it was her birthday, after all. It was while I was setting up for the cake cutting that I realized that we actually don't own anything that can light a candle. I cleared this birthday fail with Little L, who showed zero signs of disappointment that she wouldn't have candles; she just wanted the cake. I gave generous servings of cake to both Hubbs and Little L, since this was a Ganache cake (read: delicious vanilla cake with chocolate mousse filling and a buttercream frosting), but neither seemed too hungry after already having had cupcakes. In the end, we still had more than half of a yummy cake that we could enjoy on another day.

Oh, and just to be clear, we did also give my preschooler some unprocessed, real  food at lunch, lest you think we only served her sugar all day long! :P

Our newly-minted 3-year-old did not want to go anywhere all day. We offered to take her to the aquarium, Science World, the library, the bookstore, the park, Toys R Us, the States (WA), the mall, anything, but she really wanted to stay home, so we just indulged her in some TV time in our living room. Then, after some coaxing, she agreed to head to the library (her favourite place) with us. Unfortunately, she was so tired by this time of day that she conked out in the stroller on our way there. We went on a walk to investigate pet fish options while she snoozed, and decided that we would not buy her a fancy filtered tank until we could confirm that we were capable of keeping a betta fish alive in a simple bowl. Incidentally, this was when I found out that Hubbs really, really wants a fancy filtered tank of freshwater fish. Who knew?

After she woke up from her birthday slumber, we loaded her in the car to head to dinner. Little L was given her choice of cuisine for the night, and she elected to have crunchy chow mein, so we headed to Richmond to grant her wish. Then it was an evening of playing together at home, followed by an inordinately late bedtime that I can only assume was caused by the deadly combination of sugar over-consumption and a late afternoon nap.

And that, my friends, was my kid's third birthday. Aside from a big fat lollipop, we didn't even have a gift for her to open. Well, she had other gifts to open, but not one from her parents. And yet I don't think she minded that one bit. 

PS - we did make it out to the toy store the next day, and while we were convinced that Little L would want a Mrs Potato Head, she didn't want anything in the store (except perhaps a balance bike or a scooter, which I'm working on getting her). We left empty-handed.

And a few days later, I thought she might want to get a Thomas Train set or some kinetic sand for her belated gift. Nope. During our time at Chapters, I gave her several options but she still kept declining anything I offered to buy. I picked up If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and an American Girl accessory set with monkeys, food and a banana phone in the end. These proved to be good, solid choices, although I think she still prefers her giant lollipop. 

PPS - my dear sis ended up buying Little L a balloon arrangement with some giant, deluxe helium mylars, so we have like a dozen balloons in our little living room now. It's awesome!