and he's F.I.V.E.!!!

you hear it often - "time flies", "has it been that many years already??!". true enough, time really did seem to fly past us. we now have a 5 year old son. how did that happen, ey??

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previous years, we celebrated Big Z's birthday with the whole commotion, excitement and tiredness that are big birthday parties.

held a month after moving into our own home, Big Z's 1st birthday party also served as a housewarming party. there was no theme that year, but i did have fun preparing favours for the kids. i bought plastic beach pails and filled them with toy cars for the boyss, lil girly accesories for the girls, plus some candy and a lil book for all.

his 2nd birthday was my first attempt at organising a themed party. theme was 'colours' and i had prizes for most colourful guests according to gender and age group. favours were packed into colourful wrapping paper folded into lunch bag type of bag.

my personal favourite was his 3rd party. 'polka dots in blues, greens and dark browns' was the theme. i had so much fun making the favours and invites, i don't mind doing it all over again! how's that for utter mommy madness? haha ...

:: favour bags, each 'polka-dotted' differently; filled with polka-dot DIY wall art kit, handmade doodle book amongst others ::

his 4th birthday saw a different venue. held at my parents', it was the first party i had incorporated games with lots of prizes to give away on top of the individual party favours i had already prepared for all kids. the theme was 'pyjama party in red, blue and white'.

:: favour bags filled with bedtime lotion, toothbrush + chocolate cookies ::

so when this year started, i was gearing up to prepare another themed party for him. turning 5 seemed a rather big deal to me. 4 is still all-too-cute and cuddly an age, but 5 to me, is like the start of a new lil man. 5 year olds are old enough to understand things better, to think for themselves (and often this comes with the consequence of having to put up with their countless of opinions on everything under the sun!) and to show more of what they'll possibly be like in the near years to come. so, while on the one hand, a party to plan and host promised some good fun on my part, i was equally keen on keeping it low-key; just within the family. having a new baby in the family was key to my final decision. it was decided then (with Big Z's approval, obviously!) that we keep it low this year, that Big Z would be celebrating his birthday with just the family. of course, there was also the birthday do he had in school (which the school does for all kids come their birthdays). but big themed party was not in the works at all. nope. not this year.

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his turning 5 started with the lil party held in school. nothing grand and big, it was just among his immediate class/group mates. the teacher narrated his life to date (as per my notes to her prior to the party date) as he performed the birthday walk to mark his 5 years. following this, the class sang to him and he cut the cake which was very simply decorated by yours truly. he then picked a book to be read to the class during storybook time and then party favours were distributed. short and sweet, enough to leave him happy and shy all the same.

:: favours for the boys ::

:: favours for the girls ::

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three days before he actually turned 5, we had the family over for tea. both sides of the immediate family came and it was again, very simply organized. a bit of food to keep 'em tummies happy, bubbles for the kids, lots of toys from Big Z's ridiculously huge collection (of trains, mainly!) and a lot of running around and screaming was the scene for that day. again, it left him happy and satisfied with the celebration. this time round, we ordered a Thomas the Tank Engine cake since he's been asking for one and seeing as there was no theme to the 'party', a Thomas cake would fare well.

:: favours for the cousins; persoalized ::

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on his birthday, at precisely 1:36pm on Wednesday 20th August 2008 (incidentally, it was also a Wednesday on his actual birth date, 20th August 2003), Big Z was waiting for his fried noodles in Hong Kong Disneyland's Plaza Inn restaurant. that's right. at the very last minute, we decided to fly to Hong Kong for a quick holiday for our family of four. Disneyland was to be the highlight of the trip and that we were to visit the park on his birthday. so visit the park on his birthday we sure did. it was a 'no frills' holiday for us; we flew in, took each day as they came by with very little planning done for each day. relaxing to a certain extent and a good 6 days of spending quality time with only each other. Hong Kong was never a holiday destination i had wished for. never. but in that last minute of wanting to go away somewhere, i had budget, plus amusement for Big Z in mind. Hong Kong was the closest and cheapest. at the end of the trip, i asked Big Z if he'd like to come back to Hong Kong some time. his reply, "no Mummy .. enough of Hong Kong already. too many days in Hong Kong. it's someone else's turn now". lol ... fair enough, i suppose. and by 'someone', he really is referring to some other city/country.

:: Big Z + Baby Z on Main Street Hong Kong Disneyland ::

:: the happy 5 year old ::

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i still on occasion find it hard to believe my son's already 5 years old. as a baby, he wasn't the easiest to care for, for the simple reason that he only really wanted me. honestly, i pretty much did nothing else besides tending to his every need. social life was as good as none for me in his first year especially. but despite the lack of sleep, the abundance of stress and emotional challenges, i wouldn't trade it for anything else.

in Big Z, i not only have a boy to call my own, i now have a lil man to call my best friend (i'm his best friend too, by the way .. though it comes with lots of condition!). he amazes me with his innocent child-enthusiasm for life in general. his meticulous self when drawing trains and designing new tracks is inspiring too. his wit and sense of humour is just entertaining and his love for his family is what i'm most proud and thankful for. i'm looking forward to watching him grow more and to jot his coming antics, interests and pet peeves as he clocks in 5 more years and many many more to come.