Thursday night we had dinner at Jim and Evie’s, and Evie delighted me by bringing her blueberry pie—my favorite—to the table for dessert. Simon turned out to be pretty delighted, too, as he took one look at the spherical confection and launched into song:
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you….”
Adorable! But also a bit mysterious, as it wasn’t anyone’s birthday Thursday night. So we all laughed out loud, then looked at each other and said “Where did that come from?”
The obvious answer was preschool. A two-minute conversation with Simon’s (six!) teachers Friday morning verified that they sing “Happy Birthday” a lot. Not just when one of the children celebrates a birthday, but also on a regular basis as part of make-believe play.
The timing could not be better . Evie’s birthday is in two weeks, Stacy’s is in two weeks and a day, Matt’s is in four weeks, and Nathan’s is in six. We’ve got a lotta “Happy Birthday” coming up.
Simon’s Christmas present to Evie this year—which I never got around to writing about—was to say “Grandma” for the first time. His birthday present to her this year will be a song, and I’m sure she will not be disappointed.
And for the record, Simon devoured the pie with abandon. It so stuck with him that when we read one of his favorite bedtime books later that night and got to the “I love you like I love blueberry pancakes line” , which Simon diligently recites as “booberry cakes”, he improvised a bit and told me that he loved me like “boo pie.”
I saw how much he loved that pie, and I know how much I love it; I’m touched!