Baby Cola's special birthday

Purple Jacaranda! How I love this tree.

This is my favourite time of the year. The purple blossoms remind me of the days when I walk under the magnificent tree in the Main Quad after studying at the library for the uni final exams.

Now, purple Jacaranda petals takes on a new meaning. It becomes a sweet reminder that my little Cola is getting 1 year older.

I packed the kids and drove to the mall to prepare for tonight's celebration. Those pretty petals whirl in the air as our car whisked past. Dainty yellow dandelions danced in the wind on the communal footpath. We bought prawns, mussels, crab and squid for Daddy's special seafood paella. Plus a puppy shaped chocolate cake too.

It's such a special day, so I put in a $2 coin for Cola's first carousel ride. Cola wasn't quite sure what to make of the spinning motion. EggEgg was immensely pleased that he could ride on a Wiggles car, Wiggles boat and Wiggles plane and Bob the builder's machines. He insisted that Cola should sit next to him in the Wiggles car, just like in the show.

Later, they were given 2 big blue balloons-on-a-stick. Their faces beamed with a simple, innocent joy as they wave the balloons around. I told EggEgg, "Please be careful, don't knock the balloon into other people's shopping trolleys. Hold it straight up, please." EggEgg nodded and held his balloon up, at an arms length as he walked, as if it were an Olympic torch.

We had lunch at the Borders cafe, our favourite bookstore. EggEgg had a capital time sipping his hot chocolate, scooping out the elusive marshmallow, and blowing on the hot spinach-feta-roll. Cola is babbling happily, "ap ap ek ek ek elp elp wek wek". Crawling everywhere, playing hide-and-seek amongst the aisles of books, laughing out loudly as I catch him and swing him in the air. We even bought 2 nice picture books to take home. "Tickets to Ride" and "I'm going to eat you". (Ahem, in the past 48 hours, I think I have read them about 15 times. Cola won't let me put down the books, he'd crawl and fetch it after the story is over and wanted to read it again.)

Some of Tonton's friends even turned up for dinner, not realising that it's little Cola's birthday today. Good, they made fine chorus for the birthday song.

"Good night little Cola. You're a baby no more." Those were my last thoughts as I fell asleep inside baby's tiny cot once more.