A special day

Lo, the Birthday Sheep returns – this time, for Samuel.


Today Samuel is one. Had it not been for the Leap Year, he would have turned one yesterday. Had he not stayed in utero an extra week, he might have turned one even earlier.

So, for his age, he is rather … old.

Even so, this Birthday Sheep is a bit much for him: he cannot straddle it: it was designed for 18-month-olds to ride. The Sheep isn’t everything he might have wished for (as you can see from the photo).

I expect he’ll learn to love it, though.

In other respects, the birthday was quite satisfactory. Around noon, the temperature was in the seventies, and Samuel and I spent a few hours out on the back porch; Samuel had his post-brunch nap in the fresh air. Then, quickly, everything cooled. There was a rainstorm, and by four or so the temperature was in the fifties. I dressed Samuel in his winter jacket and stocking cap for our afternoon stroll.

When Karin came home from work, she brought Samuel an Arby’s roast beef slider, of which he ate about a quarter. And Martin & Mary also brought Samuel a nice gift: a Radio Flyer “busy buggy” for him to push around the house.