Ephraim's First Birthday

        Ephraim couldn't really tell us what he wanted to do for his first birthday, so we just guessed and took him to the zoo.   It was a hit!  Even more than the animals, he loved running up and down the paths.  Here he is racing Asher down a hill, and obviously winning. Asher needs to get training to keep up with little bro.

Ephraim  also enjoyed inspecting the cage material, and tried to squeeze under them.  Forget the animals... it is the exciting barriers that should be appreciated!

 Here are three fierce orangutangs... mom, Asher, and Sylvia...

    Back at home, Ephraim got his presents and had cake.    It doesn't take much to entertain a 1 year old.   One favorite gift was a helium balloon - good for knocking over again and again.  It always bounces back up.
        

 
      Second most exciting gift:  an entire box of tissues, all to himself! We all sat around and laughed, watching a very serious  Ephraim stubbornly pull out every single tissue, piling them up around him on the floor.  He refused to stop or interact with anyone until it was empty.  This is going to be one focused and determined young man.  Or, he could just be a tissue addict.

      His cake was easy to decorate.  His favorite toy recently has been a wooden ball, painted like a white chicken, with only a small beak and eyes for decoration.   It is about the size of a billiard ball, and rolls down a slide in toy barn.  He rolls it over and over again.. crashing through the barn door.  So of course, his cake needed to be - "The Chicken"!

 He didn't comment much on the decorations, but truly seemed to enjoy the taste and texture of the cake.

     The next day his most favorite present arived in the mail.  It was a card from Grandma and Grandpa Chiddix.   My dad has a habit of sending these singing birthday cards.  This card would play "Happy Birthday", sung by a digital cat every time you opened the card.

 " Meow Meow Meow Meow, Meow Meoooow!"  Meow Meow Meow Meow, Meow Meoooow!..."

(You get the idea.)  Ephraim loved it!  He packed it all over the house for days.  He read it in the car and go to sleep with it on the bed.  It would fall on the floor at night, and we would trip over it in the dark, cringing as  the singing cats started their loud song.   Alas, after many days of singing cats, the card wore out!  He cried.  Sean tried to patch it with duct tape.. but eventually the fun had to end.

   It is tough to explain to a one year old, that "there is always next year".  Who knows what Grandpa's next card will be?  He has a whole year to wait expectantly.. and we have a whole year to recover from the trauma of the singing cats.   Until then, we will have to be entertained by a very sweet little boy.