Freya is two years old today. Luckily it’s been fantastic weather, which has allowed us to have cake-eating and present-opening in the garden.

Although we have been explaining to her what her birthday is about, she didn’t quite seem to grasp the enormity and strangeness of receiving the amount of presents she did. We were about ten people all together, which made for a fair few surprises in tantalising wrapping, and she largely ignored the whole event, leaving Jo and I to unveil her gifts.

Jo seemed to think that it was not actually the presents that were the problem, but the actual wrapping paper. Once she had got past that mental boundary, she could show an interest in what she was given.

Chip had done his bit (and a lot more) by bringing a shed-full of (really nice) presents, as well as a two-metre inflatable heart that we hung from a nearby tree.

All in all it was a very enjoyable and successful day, though Jo, Jo’s mum and I were thouroughly exhausted by the end of the day, with all the preparation (and baking and washing-up) that such an occassion involves.