Teddy Bear Birthdays

At some point last week, Emmett began declaring that his teddy bears were having a birthday.  When we went to the grocery store, he reminded me to get the cake 'gredients.  For several days we had to postpone the celebration because the time just wasn't right.  He was not dissuaded from his declarations.  Thankfully, when you're four, time is fluid.  A birthday can be stretched out for days.  Similarly, it makes no sense to him how long 6 weeks take to pass, it's simply ludicrous that when he wakes up next morning, the 6 weeks he wishes to have passed have not gone by, and we discuss how time works at great lengths.

Finally, last night was the night when we were home and the kitchen was clean and I had time to help him make the cake for his bears.  He helped to beat it, and thought it was amusing how fast I can turn the batter.  When it came time to do the frosting, he wanted to be quick like me, but I cautioned him to go slow so the sugar wouldn't fly out of the bowl, and he changed tactics and the counter was only lightly dusted.  He wondered how we got vanilla frosting, but when I let him smell the bottle, he knew the smell immediately.  I remember when I was a kid being so disappointed at the taste of it.  He must have already had a taste, because he had no interest until it had been mixed in.

When it was cooled and frosted with the words, "Happy Birthday, Truckers and Fluffy Jack!", we sang the song, and Emmett blew out two candles.  When we asked him how old they were he replied, "Fifty!"  Apparently age is a pretty fluid concept as well.  We dug in to our cake and enjoyed the sweet treat.  Eventually Emmett said, "Hey!  You forgot their presents, they're feeling sad!"  

I'm thinking with that he revealed the modus operandi for this little celebration.  At least he got cake out of the deal!