Birthdays around here are so much fun—but Baba’s birthday is the best. Everyone thoroughly enjoys it—even Baba.
A few weeks ago the boys and I started planning our celebration. We knew Baba had to work for a few hours on his birthday afternoon, which meant we would have time to decorate and make his cake.
“What kind of cake should we make?” I asked. I started listing things that he likes. “A Bigfoot cake? A Lionel train cake? Maybe one that looks like a UFO?”
“No, Mama,” said Leo, who is 7. “We should put Baba’s favorite thing on it.”
“OK,” I said. “What’s that?”
He leaned over and whispered his idea in my ear.
He was right. It was perfect.
This afternoon Daniel and I made sure the house was decorated. I was just the tall person sticking the tape in the right places, under our 5-year-old’s close supervision.
Daniel and I made the cake using one of those box mixes for yellow cake—Baba’s favorite. I frosted it with icing out of a container. It’s his favorite. And this is one day of the year when we don’t try new recipes.
Then I called Leo into the kitchen and let him work his magic. He brought his vision to life with Twizzlers, Kit Kats, and M&Ms.
When Baba came home, we presented him with a cake with his favorite thing in the world on it: His family.
Now that is one cake that will be hard to top.