Gareth's 4th Birthday

It's hard to believe that although we've only been in Australia for just over a year, Gareth has only ever had one birthday in the UK. His very first birthday was in Sydney while we were here for Joe and Rhonda's wedding in 2003.

The evening before his 4th birthday was a little tense...for some reason the little fella decided that he was more than happy being 3 and didn't want to be 4. He was prepared to cancel the party and to take the presents back to the shops ! After a great deal of persuasion we just about managed to convince him that although he would be 4 he would still look and feel the same.


Birthday morning was fairly calm. He was happy to slowly open each present in turn and play with each fully before opening the next. Sian and Rhiannon were bursting for him to open them quickly but he kept them waiting. He didn't want us to sing Happy Birthday though. Clearly, he still wasn't sure about being 4.

Party time was at a local park, and as the weather was superb, we had a good sausage sizzle while all the kids ran around playing. There was loads of food for them to scoff to make sure their sugar levels remained alarmingly high. Gareth soon realised that each time a person arrived at the party he would receive a present from them. Bingo, the penny dropped and he was soon having a great time. He happily let everyone sing Happy Birthday to him and even dutifly obliged by blowing out the candles on his Robot cake (the one I made all by myself...).

By bedtime he was exhausted and wanted to sleep next to his new toys, especially his Robot and Tracy Island kit.

He leaned over and whispered to me "Dad, when is my next birthday ?".

Sucess!