2nd of December marked the end of the second lockdown in England. It was also Maia’s third birthday. Although she was talking about a birthday party and her friends coming to our house, I knew (or at least hoped!) she didn’t really have any expectations and she wouldn’t be disappointed even though there wasn’t going to be a party. She’s still so little and lives very much in the moment and doesn’t worry about things the way we do. I doubt she even remembers the party we threw for her last year! And yet I did shed a few tears over Maia’s big day, feeling frustrated over this whole corona situation and still being so far from normal that we couldn’t invite even one friend to play with her on her birthday. The lockdown ended but London was declared “tier 2” (now tier 4) which restricted mixing with other households to outdoors and to maximum of 6 people. If only it was summer but we could hardly have a birthday picnic in December! Yet I was adamant that Maia should have special day. We all needed a special day after another lockdown! But what could we do?!
I scratched my head and spent a bit of money (a bit too much probably) to create a fun day at home, doing Maia’s favourite things. We celebrated her birthday on the 5th of December which was a Saturday, because we wanted a full day to celebrate as a family with her daddy at home too.
To greet our birthday girl downstairs was the “Elf on the shelf” who’d brought Maia balloons (we started the elf tradition this year). Such a small thing but Maia was very excited about it! We then made banana pancakes, Maia’s favourite breakfast and got her dressed in a “princess dress” as she called it. It’s actually the same dress she wore for her second birthday party! We always get a good wear out of her clothes. 😄 After breakfast we went up to the living room where we had assembled her presents and balloons. Ahhh the look on her face when she saw everything! I suddenly understood why it’s so easy to go a bit overboard with presents and spoil your kids.
I had the idea of getting Maia a wooden doll’s house last year and had found the perfect one from Argos but I left it too late and by her birthday, which is close to Christmas, it was sold out everywhere. It was beautiful and big and had gotten great reviews, so this year I ordered it already a few months in advance and hid the box under our sofa! I also bought a little set of wooden furniture and a family of dolls. As you might have guessed, we spent the night before her birthday assembling the house which took a good while! 😅
Maia was beaming with joy and excitement, jumping around not believing how many balloons there were (I’d blown up as many as I had air in my lungs for). Then she moved onto unwrapping her presents and when she saw the house she was so excited it made me a little emotional. I had also gotten her a lovely bunny nightlight for her room because she has recently started getting more scared of the dark and wants to keep the lights on at night. I had also wrapped up a few other things I was going to give her anyway (the “elf on the shelf” story book for example), but nothing else really got her attention after seeing the doll’s house.
After opening her presents and video calling family, we went into the garden for a pirate treasure hunt. Maia remembers her first chocolate egg hunt last Easter and she still talks about it, that’s how much she loved it. So I wanted to replicate that but instead of chocolate eggs I hid chocolate coins in the garden for her to find. In all honesty, I actually stole the idea from Peppa Pig, but since Maia is a big Peppa fan, I thought it only appropriate. And it was another success!
Of course it’s easy to impress a three year old who had not even asked for anything, but seeing her happy and excited made my mummy heart burst with happiness. I’m so proud to be her mum and I blessed to be given the opportunity to watch her grow.
For lunch we had pasta with meatballs in tomato sauce – another firm favourite. Although in fairness Maia will eat anything with cheese on! And then we of course had some cake. It was perhaps silly to buy a big cake for just us, but what’s a birthday without a birthday cake?? And I could make my neighbours happy by taking them some too.
It took Maia awhile to settle down for a nap in the afternoon. She was still buzzing with excitement. It’s easy to forget how exciting and tiring anything that deviates from the normal routines can be for a toddler. She had a solid two-hour nap when she finally fell asleep. In the evening we treated her to two bedtime stories in “mummy and daddy’s bed” which is something we usually do only on Sundays. It’s the only time she has both parents to herself, I think that’s why she loves it!
We had a lot of fun, even if it was “just” us and “just” at home. I’m glad we made an effort, for all of our sakes. We haven’t had too many reasons to celebrate this year… The success of the day made me feel more confident about Christmas too because similarly it’ll only be us at home. We are so fortunate to have our family. Nothing else really matters when we have each other.
xoxoxo,
Sini