Memorable Birthday Moments 2007(1)

Yesterday was my birthday and as usual, we decided to celebrate this weekend since it is in the middle of the week. However, there are still a couple of things that I would like to jot down and keep in my memory.

1] Three days ago:
While I was cooking dinner, Olivia and Evan told me not to look at them as they were making a birthday present for me which I was not supposed to see until my birthday (Olivia was really the one doing the job). You could tell that they were very excited working on it, so excited that Evan could not wait to show it off to me when it was done that he grabbed it from his sister’s hand, ran into the kitchen and unfolded it right in front of my eyes.

Although I had been telling myself not to look to satisfy their eagerness to surprise me, as an intuitive response, I took a peek and Olivia caught it. She got very angry at Evan and started crying.

“Evan! That’s supposed to be a SURPRISE for mommy! I made it and now you ruined it!!!”

Of course after being yelled at by his sister, Evan started crying too.  I feel bad that they started so happily together and now ended up both crying because of me. So I hugged and thanked both of them, telling them how much I appreciated their thoughtfulness especially Olivia for making the present for me.

The present itself was an art work with all sorts of different foam animals glued on a piece of white paper. The pattern and the color of the animals were very well coordinated and it was very beautiful.

2] The night before my birthday:
While I was on my computer, Olivia came and climbed onto the bed right next to me. She just sat there and looked at me and when I looked at her, she would give me a 意味深長的 (with something on one’s mind) smile but would not say a word. Hmm, something is up.

“Okay, baby, why are you staring at me like that?” I asked.

“Mommy, tomorrow is your birthday. I am just thinking what kind of special things I can do for you.” She answered.

Oh, what a sweet girl she is! I was moved. “That’s very sweet of you Olivia! You don’t have to do anything special for me. Ummm…actually… one thing you can do will make mommy very happy and that is to study hard in Chinese.” I kind of played with her.

“Oh, no!” she gave me a “you are giving me a hard time” smile and pretended to drop dead on the bed.