NINE.

The last single digit number. He's 9. For some reason Kai's birthdays are always a bit emotional for me. Maybe because he is baby #1. And he's growing up far too fast for my liking. I know he's a tall skinny kid with a bunch of adult teeth but I swear he hasn't changed a bit from the platinum blonde toddler who loved 'unnies.

This guy....

has become this guy...

Kai had a 3 part birthday celebration this year. After we explained that I did not plan for his birthday to be on a school day, he was okay with celebrating on a different day. Months earlier he had requested a gymnastics birthday party so we were already booked and ready to go. It was actually pretty low maintenance for me as far as birthday parties go: order some pizza, buy some fruit and veggie trays, sit back and let the gymnastics teachers run the party. That is, until the actual eating the food part. We've reached the age where parents sometimes drop their kids at parties so we were pitifully outnumbered when it came to serving up the food. Thank goodness for kind friends/fellow parents who stuck around to help to mitigate the chaos. 

This year marked the first since Kai's 2nd birthday (when he had a bunny on his cake) that he wanted a cake that was not vehicular. 

This beautiful cake disappeared rather quickly into the mouths of 8 to 9 year old boys! There are two Kais at school: our's and one who spells his name with a C. So they've been know as "K Kai" and "C Cai." When it came time to sing happy birthday, the kids stared chanting "K Kai, K Kai, K Kai." Our little buddy was all smiles (yes, he desperately needs a haircut). 

There is a great custom in Victoria of having "toonie parties" for kids' birthdays. This means instead of a ton of wrapping paper and gifts, the birthday child receives a bunch of (often homemade) cards and some toonies. I can't think of a better idea. Its environmentally friendly, is a huge time and stress saver when you're attending a birthday party, the kiddo can choose something meaningful to them to do with the money, and they can practice their math skills (always looking for a way to slide that in - skip counting anyone?) Kai clearly has generous classmates and friends as he walked away from his toonie party nearly $70 richer!!!! Since he is not a spender, we can all go to the bank of Kai if we need some spending money :-). 

Birthday part #2 happened a few days later when we visited the SPCA to donate some money. We decided not to spend money on goodie bags at Kai's party and instead to give the friends a little note saying we'd donate that money to the SPCA to help dogs, in keeping with Kai's dog-themed party. We were lucky in that one of the substitute teachers at the kids' school works at the SPCA and arranged a special tour for K & T. So they got to visit rats, bunnies, dogs and cats and get their photo taken with a great big cheque which was then posted on the SPCA FB page. They were little celebrities! 

T fell hopelessly in love with a fat black and white cat named Moo whom she drew pictures and wrote books about for a few days afterwards. Kai decided that he will be getting his new dog from the SPCA. Let's hope they can find a female, yellow lab puppy to fit his specifications. 

Then finally the "real" day arrived and Kai reveled in it. He does love birthdays. We set out some presents in the morning and let him decide when he wanted to open them. He opened a few before breakfast. He had been waiting for a special gift and he knew the big yellow box contained it.

 In a display of self-control, he decided he'd wait until dinnertime to open that box, so Daddy could be home. 

He was very pleased with all of his gifts. But he was particularly pleased to finally receive his Easy Bake Oven. The 2016 version looks nothing like the 1970s version I had - no doors to open, no visible lightbulb. No, this version is safe. There is nowhere that little hands can reach in and get burnt. Its kind of an oven-like capsule: slide the tiny tray in one side and 15 minutes later (after cooling down in a "cooling chamber" - for extra safety), slightly cooked gooey miniature cookies come out.  But Kai looked very stylin' while he baked in his snazzy, personalized apron courtesy of Auntie Aynsley and Uncle Meeko. 

For his birthday dinner, he chose baked salmon. The boy is growing up! Maybe next year he'll add a vegetable. We can hope. This was followed by birthday cupcakes, made lovingly by the sweetest Daddy a boy could ask for. My plan was to stop by a cupcake store but Kai made it clear - he wanted his birthday cupcakes to be homemade. (These baker types have high standards). Since they had still not materialized by 8 pm the night before, I was preparing to go to the store to buy an add water mix and a can of icing - artificial chemicals galore! But that is how wiped I was by all of these birthday celebrations. Then Greg came to the rescue and whipped up homemade chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing. The birthday boy was not disappointed, as you can see from his smile. 

We've got big plans for celebrating #10 next year........ In the meantime, we'll enjoy our 9 year old sweet boy. He's grown into an incredible protective, loving big brother and he's inquisitive and funny and amazing. Happy Birthday Buds....you've got mommy all misty-eyed now....