The gifts came on his actual birthday, last Thursday. A party can wait, but gifts? That’s just cruel.

Wednesday of last week we took the Boy to Toys R Us to pick out some presents, and we bought him a little something that he didn’t ask for but which we knew he would love. He’s really outgrown his four-wheel vehicle (rover? quadcycle?), and his bike is still too heavy for him really to do much with. A glider was the obvious bridge.

So first thing Thursday morning, we put it together. It was the first time in over a week that I’d sat on the floor, and I wondered what it might be like to try to get back up, what with new, thick scar tissue, tired muscles, irritated everything. “Push it as much as you can as soon as you can,” the surgeon had said, and that day, plopping down in the floor and getting back up seemed like quite a bit of pushing. Indeed, quite enough.

The Boy though was just getting started. He began with tentative walking in the kitchen/dining area. K and I showed him how to sit in the seat so that he balanced his weight over his arms and his backside, and within a couple of days, he was cruising in the house quite quickly.

Today then was just icing on the cliche. No icing on the cake, though: a bit of thick, fresh whipped cream. And some construction equipment moving about the crushed Oreos that plague every building site.

“I want a digger cake,” E has been saying for some time as we’ve talked about his birthday party. We’d seen it via social media and knew he’d love it. K showed him a picture and it was instant mini-obsession. So the Girl and I laid out a piece of foil the same size as the cake, did some planning and positioning, then went to work creating a decorating masterpiece to top K’s amazing cake.

The party itself was a small affair: just the grandparents and the Boy’s best friend, N, who lives a couple of houses up from us and has become a regular visitor. We’d managed to keep the cake out of view until just before the moment of ceremonious candle extinguishing, and the result was predictable but sweet: some squealing, some laughing, and an immediate desire to play with the diggers on the cake.

After cake, we all headed outside, where E tried his new coaster on a variety of surfaces, deciding that the best was grass.

In the end, though, with a near fall, he decided that as amazing as the coaster might be, four weeks are much more secure feeling. After all, he’s been riding this thing for over two years now: it’s second nature to him.

“If you keep practicing,” we all told him, “soon, you’ll be able to ride the two-wheeler as fast and as well as your four-wheeler” we explained. E thought about it, then said simply, “Nah.”