His actual sixth birthday

Today was my son Andrew’s sixth birthday. As he would be quick to tell you “the party is really on Friday.” Yes, but he was still six today. It was an unusual day.

Gladys and I were sick, so my husband took off work. That alone is highly unusual. Not that he isn’t caring and helpful, but taking off work is a very big deal.

My husband took Andrew to the grocery store. That isn’t unusual, not as unusual as the fact that we had very little food in the house. Since it was his birthday, Andrew picked dinner: fresh fried calamari and penne alfredo. They had gone to the meat market and Andrew saw squid, one of his favorite foods. My husband deep fried it and whipped up two dipping sauces that were mayonnaise based. I despise the taste of mayonnaise. I loved both of his sauces. None of that was unusual.

Since the party isn’t until Friday, we didn’t have cake tonight. After dinner, my husband and I decided we would offer the kids ice cream and then give Andrew a gift. All we had in the house was “Spumoni” ice cream. It’s another story where the ice cream came from, but it had been in there for a few weeks. My husband and I had never tried it, nor had the kids. Pistachio-cherry-chocolate ice cream is now a new family favorite. Everyone loved it. They were excited to try it. Andrew said “Mom, it’s a crazy thing, you think its cherry and then, POW, its pistachio and then all of the sudden chocolate walks right in!” He really said that. I think that was unusual.

Andrew was very surprised when we handed him a gift. “Where did this come from?” he asked bewildered. He was really surprised. We gave him a gift last year. Giving a gift to a kid on their birthday probably isn’t that unusual. He seemed to think it was unusual.

“Its from us. Its just something little because today is actually your birthday.”

“Oh, cool.” He opened the card first, with a big smile. I could seem him smile bigger when he read the part that said “We love you.” He took awhile to open the gift. He didn’t tear it apart. I guess that’s the difference between five and six.

It was extra track for the Thomas the Train set.

“Wow, just what I wanted,” he smiled sincerely. He was very happy. He asked if we could work on the track right now, so we did. Gladys wanted some track too, so he gave her some to build. They didn’t have time to finish.

“Well, that’s okay, we’ll finish tomorrow.” He really said that too. Was this all really unusual, or have I just not noticed him growing up?

He had squid, spumoni ice cream, and was surprised that he got a gift. He went to bed happier than ever. Maybe that is a typical sixth birthday and I just don’t remember.