Since it came on Sunday, she had a chance to have a real celebration with her daddy home all day. She had had her usual quota of sleep, so her birthday started out bright and early, when she popped in to ask, "Now is it my birthday?" We put her presents on the breakfast table so she could have them the first thing and enjoy them all day. It turned out she knew a good deal more about such an occasion than we realized. We didn't know that she knew much what to expect, but as soon as she saw the packages, she asked, "Is the cake in one of those?" She also knew she was supposed to get to blow out the candles on the cake.
We had fixed the breakfast table in festive style and had the packages on it to be viewed and speculated upon during the meal. As soon as all three of us had eaten, she lit in on them and had a great time opening them all by herself. Then she and her daddy enjoyed the morning playing, while I took care of bottles, formula, bath and so on for Richard.
We had dinner at noon, including the guest of honor's preferred foods, such as chicken and frozen peas and of course, a birthday cake. The latter was a white angel food with pale pink frosting and it had three big pink candles in the middle and 36 tiny blue ones, one for each month, around the edge. No special reason for them except that the only big candles I could get were pink and we thought it would be nice to have some color contrast and I happened to see these delectable little blue ones, so figured out a way to include them. We fixed the table with a white cloth, pink lace-paper doilies under the plates, pink candles in crystal holders, and pale blue napkins, so it all matched the cake.
After her nap, the afternoon was Caroline's to plan. She was to get to choose what we should do. She decided she'd like to go "out to the country" and enjoy the "swings and sings." The "sings" consist of various other pieces of playground apparatus. There is a lovely playground there, all fenced in, with lots of trees, where the youngsters can play. She quite wore us out teeter-tottering and swinging, and we took a roll of pictures. Then we went home and to bed, after a pretty full day. "This was my happy birthday," she murmured sleepily at bedtime. -- Reported by her mother.
Memory Gem
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you are trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When the care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, dut don't you quit! -- Selected.