Mommy, Diane was in the kitchen preparing orange cordial while Daddy, Sern Wei was getting the camcorder ready to capture shots and videos of the birthday do for little Amber, who would be turning one on Tuesday.
Adrian and I were the first two to arrive and little Amber had just been bathed and was being dressed up by the maid. Looking cute and pretty in a pale pink dress, with two dainty-looking butterfly clips on her hair, she seemed uncomprehensible of all the fuss around her.
(above) Amber in arms of Diane, and Lysandra in Christina's
Amber with mommy, Diane
Guests started arriving and soon the house was filled with relatives and friends, happily catching up with each other. They shared about their kids and what they have been up to. Toddlers, kids and young teens were all over the porch, living room, and the kitchen.
Calvin, 11 months' old and Lysandra, five months' old were the closest in age with Amber, who has two older brothers, Darren, eight and Ryan, five. While Lysandra was most of the time cradled in mommy, Christina or daddy, Bruno's arms, Calvin was already able to sit and crawl all over the place. He was a happy toddler, smiling and cheerful the whole night. He was busy with the toy he had in his chubby hands, half the time moved about as he was drawn to things here and there, unaffected by the crowd in the room, or the volume of adult chatters, or the Olympics on TV.
What a sight of parents busy attending to their juniors, playing toys with them, and cooing them on. Whilst most of the girls seated quietly with their food, and closed to their mommies and daddies, the boys were hyper. They played guns and replica of devices in the currently popular cartoon, Ben 10, and ran in and out of the house at the speed of lightning.
Diane and Sern Wei catered for burgers and satay for guests, something unusual for a birthday do, but popular among Malaysians, regardless of race. Given any point of time, kids and adults alike enjoy having those tasty Ramly burgers. Orders went in for berger ayam spesial, hotdog spesial and benjo telur. Beef and chicken satays were all snapped up.
"It has been ages since I had them," answered Adrian when Sern Wei asked him when he last had Ramly burgers. "I am forbidden to eat them," he added. Looking at him with half a smile and half a glare, I told him that he should thank Little Amber for giving him the reason to feast on them. Sern Wei and Diane laughed.
Little Amber was in the arms of her mommy, Diane who stood right in front of the birthday cake. It was time to sing birthday song to the birthday girl. Uncomfortable with the sight of so many pairs of eyes on her, Amber started having a downturned pout on her little face, and tears were welling up in her eyes. The singing had probably sounded thunderous and frightening that she began to cry. When it came to "....Happy Birthday to Amber", she was already wailing and screaming her lungs out. Grandma had to take her off Diane, and gently calm her. Ten minutes passed and she had the first bite of her birthday cake, lovingly fed by Grandma.
First birthdays, as many mommies recalled, were quite a do for their kids when they turned one. One thing for sure, they all added extra flavouring to their birthday cakes.
(from left) Laryssa, Bruno, Lysandra, Christina, Amber, Diane, Adrian and me
No comments:
Post a Comment