Make a Wish

And now my baby girl is a big girl of 5 years old.

I had the slightest little glimmer that Ayla may have understood the 'specialness' of her birthday this year. The night before, I said to her on several occasions...."It's your birthday tomorrow! And we are going to the Zoo for your birthday", and I actually received smiles and excitement in return! Or maybe that was just the cheeky mood she was in. At one stage, I found that she had rolled into my bedroom and was happily playing with one of her birthday presents! NOT FUNNY!




Ayla's reaction to, "Wanna go to the Zoo?"

It was a really lovely day with the three of us together....although a little tired. Ayla had played bedroom olympics in her bed until around 9pm....way past her bedtime, I stayed up until 12.30am finishing her birthday Owl (see below) and poor Steven was on his last shift of 7pm -7am. The poor bugger. His work colleagues all told him to stay awake all day and go to bed at night so that he wasn't awake all night....so of course, Ayla and I dragged him all around the National Zoo for the day! He was running into things, tripping over his feet and going the wrong way up paths.....but he made it through the day.

Ayla noticed a lot more animals on this trip than she did at Taronga Zoo a year ago. She saw the Giraffe this time, the otters who were so darn cute begging the keeper for more prawns and pilchards, the swans and the white lions too. It was encouraging enough that we bought her a 1 year pass for the zoo, so we can keep going and keep showing her some amazing animals. And no, alas, I didn't 'Meet-a-Cheetah' this time around.....next time (ssshhh!)






I know you're wondering what we settled on for Ayla's birthday gifts after my traumatic shopping trip to Toys R Us....to be honest, I'm not sure why I even went there....ugh! As you have seen above, I made one gift...a birthday Owl. I'm very proud of my first attempt at a softie. Of course, it was my favourite present :). I think Ayla has looked at it once (LOL!). We also bought her a Fairy Dust Wand in all rainbow colours (the toy she was playing with the night before), a gorgeous book with CD called the Wonky Donkey (absolutely hilarious!) and ....... a Singing Potty! Yep, you heard that right.....a SINGING POTTY! I set it all up and Ayla actually used it last night.....but I forgot to turn it on! I couldn't believe it.

The Birthday cake???? Ahhh Sweet Success! Gluten Free White Chocolate Fondants with Raspberry Cheesecake Ice-cream. When someone says it can't be done....don't believe a word of it! It worked and it was beautiful. The photos aren't fabulous.....night photography and I are not really friends. Not only that but my attempt at plating up 'Masterchef' style was pitiful :). But it was delicious and I will absolutely share the recipe in another blog post...cos this one is getting a little long.

But the BEST birthday gift by far?

Finding a really beautiful little mainstream school that can't wait to have Ayla enrolled! Seriously! No hesitations whatsoever! And they have jumped in and begun contacting all the right people for Ayla's school support already.....but I might leave the details for another blog. This one is getting to 'cup of tea' length!