Birthday!
This Saturday was the n00b's second birthday, and in honour of this momentous occasion we went to the zoo. We invited both sets of grandparents, both the biological and honourary uncles and aunts, and one of her little friends to come along to make a party of it. Sadly her bio uncle and aunt couldn't come, her honorary uncle had a university lecture, and her paternal Grandmother elected to stay at home and cater the birthday tea as I am now the size of a house and not particularly inclined to baking. However, the rest of the party had an excellent trip in some surprisingly fine weather.
The n00b's favourite animals are Monkeys, which she persists in mispronouncing as 'Bubbins'. Chester Zoo has a generous supply of Bubbins and other primates, and she was thrilled by the Spider monkeys, the Mandrills, the Macaques, the Buffy-headed Capuchins and the Chimps. We were lucky enough to see the Meerkats reacting to the perceived threat of a passing aeroplane, and to see the baby elephants, baby rhinos and two charming tiger cubs and cheetah cubs. The toddlers were surprisingly well behaved throughout the day, only getting a little fractious at a quarter to three when it became apparent that nap-time had not been included on the day's itinerary. Luckily at a quarter to three they feed the penguins at Chester Zoo, which succeeded in waking up both the birthday girl and the guest of honour, so that they could re-energise with some icecream and stay awake for birthday tea and presents.
Grandma Ruth had outdone herself with a splendid tea of sandwiches, trifle, blancmange, jelly and three kinds of cake. Sadly the toddlers were extremely tired by this point, and since the Birthday Cake had been included on the party table as a magnificent centrepiece, there was no persuading either of them to try a sandwich or a bite of jelly, because look at the awesome cake! Still, the grown ups made a very good meal, and then it was time for presents. Both of the toddlers were very taken with the new plastic tea set. In the n00b's case, I was extremely surprised at the power of cultural osmosis. Since Vince doesn't drink tea, the teapot is an extremely rare sight in our house as I usually just dunk a teabag for myself. Since I mostly drink flavoured or speciality tea, the milk jug and the sugar bowl are ornaments that only the china cabinet ever gets to enjoy. Her television hero Hercule Poirot drinks only herbal tisanes, Peppa Pig is maintained solely by orange juice, and yet somehow just by existing in England for two years my daughter is fluent in the English tea ceremony and very properly prepared invisible tea for her party guests. It is a mystery to me!
We went home very sleepy and very satisfied with a new coat, two new outfits, two splendid new Duplo sets and some lovely new books. A good time was had by all, and Aunty Lucy has taken some fabulous pictures to commemorate the occasion. I have saved the number two candle from the top of the cake, in the hopes of doing it all again in about two years and one months time!