November 8, 2007

Hello again. As promised, here are a few pics of Charlie's birthday. He had an amazing day, and was thrilled to bits with all his presents. (We had quite a lot of fun playing with them too!!)
As planned, we went bowling (although we didn't make it to Ratatouille because we ran out of time - so that's on the cards for next week!) Charlie really enjoyed himself, and did a dance every time he knocked some skittles down. Now he's planning on taking Nanny and Grandpa bowling when we go to Center Parcs next month.
Charlie also spent a happy half hour tearing around the amusement arcade part of the bowling alley, sitting on all the racing games.
Later on, we went to TGI Fridays for a birthday lunch.
The waitresses spotted Charlie's 'Birthday Boy' badge (hard to miss, really!), and once he'd finished his dinner, they made him stand on his chair, holding a bowl of icecream with a candle in, and made the entire restaurant sing happy birthday to him!
He stood there, clutching his icecream with a little smile on his face, and then blew the candle out to a big round of applause!
I would have taken a picture, but I was too busy trying not to cry at his proud little face!
Once we got home, Nanny and Grandpa came over for birthday tea and fireworks. It was so lovely to have my dad there, as there were times over the past few months when we'd wondered if he might not be here at all. To see him wandering round at Charlie's party last week, clearing all the wrapping paper into a bin bag, just like he always does, was very good to see. As we've found with Charlie, bad stuff happening really makes you appreciate the little things in life.
After tea, Charlie sat on Grandpa's knee in the conservatory, while Pete set off a few fireworks in the back garden. We ended up laughing uproariously as they all had exotic names like 'Mount Vesuvius' and 'Mighty Dragon' but all looked exactly the same - a few showers of sparks with an occasional 'pfffffffft' noise! Charlie was very impressed though, so I'm glad we didn't bother buying any really expensive ones!
Then we all had sparklers in the back garden, which rounded off a really lovely birthday for Charlie. I still can't quite believe I'm the mother of a four year old. It sounds so grown up. Mind you, he's already started saying 'Next birthday, I'll be five!' Doh.