We celebrated another birthday in quarantine last week as Arjun turned 5-years-old. Much like all other such milestones in motherhood, I feel like this moment arrived in a wink of an eye. I mean, look at him, he was just a baby yesterday!
When Arjun was just 4-months-old, we left Chicago for Raleigh, North Carolina. Shortly after, I would make another big decision to leave my job and take a creative break. With Asha enrolled in full-time day care, Arjun was my wingman as I explored Raleigh and uncovered a new career. He was such a good baby always! I never felt like I couldn’t do something because he was around. He is a mama’s boy through and through.
Fun Fact: Devang and I picked the name “arjun” separately years before we ever met or married. Imagine that coincidence.
Like any kid his age, he had been planning his 5th birthday party since the last one ended. He would accumulate and add ideas after attending his friends’ birthday celebrations over the last several months, so that his final request was to have a birthday party at the natural history museum with roller skates and a bouncy house.
I couldn’t deliver any of that sadly. But given his current obsession with dinosaurs, we did our best to make sure he still had a fantastic day.
His food requests for the day included: Blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Lo Mein noodles for lunch, Mami Nora’s chicken for dinner. Krispy Kreme doughnuts for dessert. YUM!
And now on to the presents. By normal standards, I suppose one could say that our kids are deprived of things that get wrapped as gifts. We are obsessive travelers and we are always happy to celebrate such milestones with a trip together. However, during this time of quarantine, it felt right to indulge my Juni a bit with all the dinosaur goodies I could find including the T-Rex 3-D Puzzle, Boley’s jumbo dinosaur set, Tigerdoe dragon tails (a HUGE hit), dinosaur hooded blanket, and Hapinest dinosaur stamp kit.
But the best gift came from Asha, who is going through a phase of portraiture. She told Arjun that she would make him “a self portrait” if he sat next to her and told her what color shirt he wanted.
And Now, A Q&A with the birthday boy
Favorite color? Blue & Green
Favorite song? “What a man gotta do” by Jonas Brothers
Favorite Animal? Dinosaurs
What will you be when you are older? Paleontologist
Favorite dessert? Ice cream and doughnuts
Favorite food? Brussel sprouts
Favorite singer? Justin Bieber
Favorite thing to do? Pick stuff. Eat stuff.
Who is your best buddy? Asha and Ajay
How do you cheer yourself up when you are sad? By playing with dino toys.
What is the best part of being 5-years-old? Now I can see stuff that is really high
What are some of the new things you are going to try this year? Go see a crater, try making more 3-d puzzles, make a brachiosaurus with legos
Where do you hope to travel this year? Portland, OR
I love you so very much Arjun. Every day I wish you’d slow down a little so that you wouldn’t get so many ouchies. But I do know already that you are going to be a star on that future track and field team of yours. You tell me that you aren’t leaving for college unless I come with you. Maybe I’ll hold you up to it when time comes. I love how curious you are, how you love nature. I like that your dandelion wish was to “get on a plane again soon”. I love that we share a love for strawberry ice cream. This and a million more reasons to love you more and more everyday. May happiness and kindness follow you always.
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