Mama Kiche's Diary: On Turning 3 - The Weekday Celebrations

The Rascal's birthday fell on a Sunday this year. But, why stop at one celebration when you can get four?

1. At the Nanny's On Thursday

To kick-start the festivities, T had his first party at his nanny's house, where all kiddos under her care get a mini birthday celebration on their special day. This signifies a yummy treat where the kids get to stuff their gullets with chicken nuggets, fish balls and the whole smorgasbord of junk food which they are otherwise 'forbidden' to eat on normal days.

T was the only June baby in the house so he got a customised cake all for himself. And a hug-ass cake it was too...

The huge-ass cake, reminiscent of the cakes that we used to get on our first birthdays

Taking a deeeeeeep breath

Surrounded by people who love him...(when he is not busy bullying them)

Surrounded by parents who love him...(when he is not busy yakking their ears off)

2. At His School On Friday

Before T started childcare in November last year (01 Nov 2012), I was very much against having celebrations in school. To me, it felt like a Mafia operation where you are pressurized to have a celebration just because another kiddo has invited you to his party and you feel obliged to return the favour. And goodness knows T's class are populated with many kids. Friends tell me that I am wierd when I share this line of thinking with them - I don't deny this. Then again, I also have fewer friends now =P

To cut a long story short, I decided to give the cc celebration a try cos like they say: 'don't diss it till you try it'. The online sourcing of possible party favours (that's another concept I don't understand: why is the host supposed to give out door gifts when he should be getting burried in presents?) began and my brain goes into overdrive trying to decide on the party theme. Angry Birds was given a short respite from free-falling tower blocks and invited to T's birthday party in school for a while.

Despite having very few pre-conceptions about what to expect in a cc party, I was completely unprepared for what I can only describe as the 'sterility' of the class atmosphere. The celebration took place after the kiddies' afternoon naps and a handful of T's classmates were looking more than a littler zoned out when we arrived at the centre, including the birthday boy himself. He was sitting at a table on his own, possibly known as the Birthday Table, while his classmates were sitting at separate communal tables. Birthday songs were sung, cutesy photos were taken and Angry Birds were mutiliated into kid-sized pieces for kid-sized tummies. Throughout this whole episode, T's Chinese teacher and her aide were there to maintain law and order.

'Stand around the birthday boy!'

'Let's start singing a song for T!'

'Let's do the Chinese version too!'

'Say cheese!'

'Go back to your seats now!'

'If anyone makes a sound, they will not get their cake!'

I'm not quite sure if I am the only one who feels this way but since it is a birthday celebration, shouldn't the kids be allowed to let down their baby-fine hair and just monkey around for the short duration of the party instead of being ordered around like robots? If I had wanted to have a party with such high levels of discipline, I would wait for when T turns 18 and throw him a bash in his Pulau Tekong canteen! Suffice to say that having experienced the sterility of a cc party, T should not be expecting to have many cc celebrations in the immediate future.