Gifts

I wrote a few weeks ago about our quandary in trying to decide what to get Oscar for his fourth birthday. Contrary to what you think you might know about children with Autism, Oscar isn’t particularly obsessive and is ‘in to’ whatever it is he likes that day. He’s still a fan of Thomas the Tank, and has started to take an interest in crafting and books. But other than that we couldn’t really think of any birthday gifts he’d really appreciate. We had a notion to perhaps get him his own baking equipment, but was that really what a four year old would want?

The answer was YES!

If you recall we were thinking of getting him a really sturdy Mason Cash bowl for when he bakes. Which we do regularly.

When we went to look on the Lakeland site, we found the one we wanted was on offer. It seemed like a sign. So we went ahead and got him the Blue 29 inch Varsity bowl. And it didn’t disappoint when it arrived. What a beauty!

The morning of his birthday, we bought him in to our room and showed him his presents. He has no real understanding of time and abstract concepts like birthdays (yet), but he loves opening presents and playing with the contents. That was enough for him!

He was so excited when he finally opened his bowl. More than we thought he would be. Then he opened his second and third present from us and insisted we ‘make’ immediately!

So downstairs we went and made the gluten free chocolate brownies from the mix in the Delicious Alchemy Gift Box we bought him. He loved having his own ‘giant bowl’ and it was so much sturdier than anything else we had used in the past. And the fact he got to us his own spoon, engraved with “Oscar’s ‘Making’ Spoon that we bought from Auntie Mims on Not on the High Street, well, this was one happy birthday boy.

Not many four year olds want to make their own birthday cake. For breakfast! — Happy Birthday to meeeeeee!

So yeah, not many four year olds would want baking equipment for their birthday and even less would be interested in making their own birthday cake for breakfast. But that’s my boy. He’s his own man. And we couldn’t be prouder of him.

So you may remember back in November I mentioned that I was taking part in a Blogger gift swap, a kind of Secret Santa for people who do what I do run by Viola over at apieceofviola.wordpress.com.

I was so excited when I found out my swap pairing was the lovely Charlene over at charlenejess.wordpress.com. Turns out she is a book reviewer, so my first thought was to get her a book. However the more I read of her blog the more I figured she would get books no matter what. Charlene is a single mum, with very little family and mentioned in a blog post that she doesn’t receive many presents, so I decided to get her something she probably wouldn’t get for herself, something a bit fun. And when she told me she liked Marvel and the colour purple, well, I think I found a great present to send her. I do hope she liked it and I can’t wait to read her post about it.

I received my gifts from her a few days before Christmas. I was thrilled to have received several little gifts – I love the opening as much as what’s inside and I couldn’t wait to put them in my stocking on Christmas Eve.

Charlene told me her 8 year old son had wrapped and labeled them for me. What a dude! Thank you Lynx, you did a stunning job!

So I wasn’t sure what kind of things I get. I mean I’d never met Charlene and it was difficult to know what she’d think of me, just from what she’d read. It’s so difficult to know what kind of persona you put out there on social media, but turns out I put out exactly who I am! I loved the gifts and would have chosen them all!