Beautifully set up for Layla's 4th Birthday Party!

We were cordially invited to Layla’s 4th Birthday Party (blog link) on Saturday (thanks for the invitation, Evelyn and family!).

As this was the first time we were meeting up with Evelyn & family as well as two other blogger mummies and families, we were a little overwhelmed initially. People whom we only knew from online conversations were about to become ‘real’ people in front of us. ^^|

As Evelyn approached and welcomed us in, we handed her some dressing-up items which we had bought some time earlier during the week. Instead of the traditional birthday gifting, she had requested for us to bring along preloved items for dressing up the kids instead. As we didn’t have any suitable items at home (Darius dislikes wearing any item on his head), we decided to purchase them instead.

We bought a mask, magic wand and a pair of angel wings. Dar almost broke the mask's strings when we tried to wear it over him.. hah.

Catherine also drew a birthday card for Layla, which consisted of her sitting on a big dog. Cat: Her birthday theme was a little gal from the story, The Lonesome Puppy. I took the initiative to drew Layla as the ‘little gal’ and drew the puppy from googling about the book. It’s a nice story telling about “A dog so big that he straddles the globe and is friendless because no one can actually see him. A little girl finally notices him, climbs up onto his face, and sings to him, and they became friends. The point of the story was –No matter how alone you are, there is always someone, somewhere, waiting to meet you. Just look and you will find them!”  Then, I printed it out as a 5X7 printout and wrote a message on the back.

Darius warmed up pretty quickly, as he started exploring and walking around the place, getting interested in the numerous floating ballons in the living room. We handed one to him and he started pulling and letting go of the balloon’s string a little while sounding out up and down as the balloon floats up and down in front of him.

He then started climbing a chair to look out of the window, checking out the scenery outside and watching the passers-by and cars go by along the road in front. He loves to look out of windows. However, he kept climbing up and needed our help to get down. We had to keep looking out for him in case he fell so Catherine forbidded him to stay there for long.

Several kids ran to Layla’s bedroom and we brought Darius in too. He quickly got interested in the box full of musical instruments. He was particularly interested in a rattle and chinese drum and kept shaking them to listen to the sounds created.

Meanwhile, I noticed the beautiful lamp above, which consisted of a moon and some stars, and pointed at it for Darius to see. Upon noticing the lamp, he pointed at the different parts of the lamp and voiced out moon and stars. Glad he could recognise the shapes correctly. ^^

It was then time for us to gather around Layla and her birthday cake as we started singing a birthday song for her. She was quite shy with the crowd around her and was smiling demurely as the song ended for her to make a wish and cut the cake.

A lot of effort was put into the party, from the decorations, party flavours and food being prepared for the occasion. (Cat: Black Custard Bun..interesting!) There was also a dress-up corner for the kids to dress themselves with some of the items we had brought along and probably take some fun pictures. Some children placed some lovely hairbands on their head or had fairy wings on their backs but most of the children were actually more interested in the balloons, playing with each other and exploring Layla’s toys.

The dressing-up and phototaking area

During the party, we managed to chat up a bit with Evelyn and Jayne (from ‘Why Not‘ ) and got to know them a little better. It was the first time we were meeting them in real-life after reading their blogs for some time. (Cat: And they are so friendly and warm! Like an old friend even though I barely know them..probably because we know very well what is happening in each other’s lives through blogging so it’s easier to start any topic to conversate)

Meanwhile, Darius was busying himself with a fireman hat brought along by one of the mummies and he got really interested in it, putting it on and taking it off repeatedly. (remember he DOESN’T like to wear anything on his head?) For quite a long time, Darius has this habit of sweeping off anything placed onto his head so Catherine and I were quite surprised that he would take the initiative to pick up and wear a hat.

Darius had also warmed up and was also in a very good mood by then, walking in and out of Layla’s room. He even hugged a few guests! I noticed there were more girls than guys near Darius’ age at the party so he became the minority of his gender. ^^| While the girls were playing with dolls, he was sitting beside, observing them and playing with the musical instruments. (Cat: He’s also at the age where he still does not play with other children but enjoy playing beside them so he just kept moving around and walk here and there.)

Layla with her girl friends

Along the corridor just outside the house, there were another play area for the children so after the cake cutting, we went outside. Catherine fed him some cake while he used the crayons on the table to do some scribbling. He prefered to move from one chair to another though, sitting down on each one and wouldn’t keep still.

Some time later, we took our leave as some guests began to leave too. Before we left, we took a bean bag as a memento and party flavour. It even came with a set of recommendations on what we could do with it. Well thought out by Evelyn! ^^

We then walked around the neighbourhood intending to look around the place while headed towards the Farrer Park MRT Station. When we reached there, we came across the City Square Mall and noticed a playground in front of it. Seeing that Darius was still in a good and energetic mood, we carried him off his stroller and he rushed over to the playground happily. ^^

Thereafter, we took our dinner followed by a walk in the shopping mall. Darius fell asleep in the stroller while we were walking around so we continued to do some shopping to explore the Mall since it was our first time there. He woke up when we were about to leave and we took the MRT back again because the wait for the taxi was too long. It was almost 11 when we reached home and we all quickly rested after the tiring day.

Cat: “When I received the invite, I was pretty apprehensive at first being that we are not really very sociable people. We avoid crowds usually and do not have many friends with kids. You don’t read about us going to gatherings in this blog right? We seldom go to gatherings unless we know the person very well. We don’t even talk to our neighbours much. I’m shy and not good at talking with people I don’t really know. However, knowing I’ll meet Evelyn and Jayne whom I admire for their writings and thoughts, I felt it’s a must-go. And I’m SO glad I did! It was a nice gathering and I can’t remember when was the last time I ever talked so much! And Evelyn was so nice, kept over apologising for not being able to entertain us much. It’s really OK! Thank you, Evelyn, for the invite and the experience.

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