Tristan's 3-year-old Birthday Home Party

My sister's a great mom! There's no doubt about it. I can see it from the way she has planned her son, Tristan's birthday party. Let me call it affectionately a home party. Because that was what it was. A simple home party. The guest list wasn't elaborate. Just very close family members. The food was home-cooked mostly. But it was a couple of hours of well-planned, meaningful social interaction between Tris & the significant others in his life. Tris would certainly associate his birthday with spending quality & fun time with his family members, rather than just having strange people gathering & watching him blow candles.

It started with my entrance - with the boy's birthday cake. Unofficially, as he hadn't had his afternoon nap yet. Perhaps I was more thrilled than he was. Cos I saw how excited he was with his cake.

As he napped, we started our preparation work diligently. I wrapped the parcel with little notes of 'treat' or 'task' for our passing-parcel game. Ting & Jovi put up the decorations while Ash tried to draw arrows for the pressie trails. Tried to - cos each time it wasn't perfect enough, she grumbled about not knowing how to do it properly.

Awakened from his nap, Tris remembered we were to celebrate his 3rd year birthday. The kids started dancing & jumping to party music. Meanwhile, granny & grandpa were busy with preparation of 'ngoh-hiang' in the kitchen.

First game we played: snakes and ladders. Tris was fantastic in the game. Not just his counting but his understanding of the rules of the game.

Next we played 'passing the parcel'. This was new to Tris. He wailed when Ting stopped the music & it took some patience and explanation to show him how the game was played. Well, once he understood, he was really into it. Ash took a 'task' turn. She had to use her tongue to touch her nose.

The task I landed with was more complicated. I had to use my bump to spell 'Tristan'!

To be continued...