Helen's third birthday

My small friend Helen 'adopted' me as a special friend when she was about six or seven months old, and has remained constant. A few weeks ago, we were at her home playing on the floor, when she suddenly said, 'Aimee is my friend, and I want her to come to my birthday party, but you are my BEST friend!'

Helen's birthday comes after four other birthdays amongst her siblings - three in June, and one in July. So she knew what birthdays were about, and was looking forward very much to her third birthday. Aimee was in fact the only child of Helen's age who was invited, but with Helen's family, and Aimee's, and us, and someone staying in the guest flat there were 17 of us in all. Quite a gathering.

Present-opening started about half an hour or so after we had arrived. Helen was very patient, taking one gift at a time, and carefully tearing them open:

She seemed to be happy with everything she received, which included a fishing game, some marker pens, some playdough and cutters, some books, some soft toys, a small bear backpack, a doll, and an ingenious table/'microphone' constructed by her brother Lukas.

By the time Helen had opened all her gifts, and played somewhat with most of them, it was time to eat. A leisurely and enjoyable meal, followed by the traditional family singing accompanied by Marie on violin:

Here's a view of the cake the right way up, which was - at Helen's request - a 'hippo-hopamus' on a roof, eating special cake, made by her clever mother. (Inspired by the classic children's book, now sadly out of print, 'There's a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake'by Hazel Edwards.)

Then Helen was presented with another cake, bought from the local Zorpas bakery, by their guest flat visitor:

She immediately ate one of the roses, and gave a second to her sister Katie. Then she requested a piece of the hippo-hopamus cake, AND some chocolate cake, AND two kinds of ice cream, and then added the final two sugar roses to her plate as well:

I was not surprised that she managed to eat all her dessert, despite having eaten a fairly hearty main course. Helen has a very good appetite. I was, however, surprised at how little chocolate ended up spread around Helen herself. Her mouth and fingers were a little messy, but she didn't seem to spill anything at all on her clothes:

Helen had taken a nap earlier in the day, so she was still wide awake after all her siblings had gone to bed. A nice way to end her special day, cuddling up to her parents:

Then she borrowed my camera, and took this photo herself, of her new blue cat. It was crocheted by Marie - made without using a pattern: