Cosmo is two years old!  I forgot, actually (which is admittedly quite terrible!) so two days before his solstice birthday, (at the frantic insistence of his older siblings–Mum, we *have* to have a party for Cosmo!) we called up a few friends and asked them to come over for an almost-impromptu gathering.

And they came!  It was a beautiful day, and the kids played on the trampoline, and I made my famous (ha!) watermelon cake, which is supposed to be a surprise every time, although the kids welcome all the guests with “Mum made a cake and it’s a huge surprise, so we can’t tell you what it is!!!….It’s a watermelon cake!” which has now become a bit of a  running joke…and we also had some black-bean brownies, and veggies thanks to Lee’s mum, and when the trampoline jumping got a little too hectic, we all took a walk down to the river.

Just as we arrived, a fishing boat pulled up with two crusty old fishermen who had scored a bag of eels, and everyone eagerly touched the poor eels, and right before the fishermen went on their way, they threw some dead fish onto the dock which everyone examined with great interest, and there were several debates that ensued on the topic of whether or not to bring the dead fish back to our house (the adults won), and then we walked back and enjoyed the watermelon cake, which, of course, is really just a watermelon dramatically and artfully smeared with whipping cream (of course, by the time it was ready to serve, it had been mauled and poked such that the drama and art were, well, modified, to say the least).

We hadn’t anticipated any presents at all, but after everyone left, we discovered that presents had indeed been left in the living room, so Cosmo (who was naked for the almost the whole party), opened the gifts which included some exciting foam swords and a new outfit from Grammy and Grampy, and books and an iPad (actually a magnetic drawing board) from my mum, and some beautiful hand-made beanbags from a dear friend, along with a dozen eggs from their backyard chickens.

We all had a great time.  Happy Birthday Cosmo!  You’re hilarious and scrappy, and brave and gentle and loving and we’re so glad you were born.