Earlier
on Ellis' special day I had Face Timed him. All smiles, he showed me
three fingers, then I reminded him, “See you in a little while!”
Ellis
came to the door, giggling, wearing a t-shirt that said I am the
Birthday Boy. I had changed, too, after our tennis game, into a
skirt fit for our first date. He examined his card with interest.
His mother is good at using every situation as a teaching moment, so
she asked him, “What does it say?”
“Happy
birthday!” he replied. His name spelled out in large colourful stickers was
easy to recognize. “Love, Grandma and Grandpa B” had a red
heart beside it. Ellis 'read' the whole card. It had to come
with him in the car.
I
said to Matteo, “I won't have you along in case I don't understand
what Ellis is saying.”
“He
can come close to your ear and whisper into it, then you'll know what
he's saying,” was his solution.
I guess he was going by what we had told him about Terry's hearing.
I guess he was going by what we had told him about Terry's hearing.
First
came pictures.
“Stand
over here by this bush like Matteo did on his date,” said his
mother.
All
of a sudden Ellis got shy, and S. had to be in the picture
instead of taking it.
Tears!
Ellis realized his mum wasn't coming
along on the anticipated date! Terry managed to distract him long
enough to buckle him into his car seat, and we were off.
Ricky's
restaurant had a birthday special for children on their birthdays.
Ellis picked fish and chips off the menu in the colouring book. We busied ourselves colouring until the food came.
We talked about the funny cat pictures on the wall. Ellis liked the toy
robots on the shelves, especially the one in a purple 'dress'. Ellis
loves purple.
(Terry was there only part of the time as he had an
important phone appointment he couldn't put off.)
Ellis attacks his cod pieces with an adult sized fork.
Whoops, I guess Grandma didn't cut the pieces small enough. (I was afraid the fish would fall out of its batter coating)
Plate all cleaned up! Ellis sips the last of his cranberry juice.
Dessert was a choice of fruit gummies or M & Ms. You can guess what he picked.
I wondered at Ellis striding confidently into the parking lot, then noticed he had his hand out as he had been taught. He felt he was safe!
The after picture.
Ellis still has his package of M & Ms, now empty.
Matteo gets into the picture. He can't wait for his turn in two days.
Then there's the big birthday party on the weekend for both the boys!
