10 may 2020. Lockdown phase 3.
It so happened that it was a Sunday, Mother’s Day and my 3 year old niece, Reya’s lockdown birthday. All rolled in one.
So, it was the usual. I started planning her birthday a week in advance. Kabir and I painted her favourite Peppa and George Pig and made a birthday banner. (Do read Peppa pig party if you want to plan some fun games for toddlers.) It was to be a simple affair. Pancakes in the morning, rajma chawal for lunch and pizza + noodles for dinner. Yes. This is simple.
I made pizza sauce, dough (recipe here) and a delicious chocolate cake (recipe here) a day in advance.
Also, her mother and I put up the decorations the night before, so that when she wakes up we can video shoot her reaction. As it is we had been reminding her everyday that it’s your b’day on the 10th. It’s your b’day on the 10th. We also planned a pool party on the roof.
So, back to the present. 10th morning.
I woke up earlier than usual so that I can finish off the cleaning of the rooms and can blow up the balloons before she wakes up. I put up the rajma to boil, dusted, swept and also finished mopping the living room. Then, suddenly out of the blue I saw a small brown ball rolling and going under the sofa. Initially I thought it was a TT ball that Kabir plays with. But the colour was different.
I usually do not move the heavy furniture to clean, but then, today I had to. Again I saw the ball rolling with the speed of a bullet and going under another sofa. That’s it. It was a little mouse. Very good. I had just finished cleaning. The ladies would understand what I was going through. I did not want to clean again. I did not want to let the mouse go. I did not want to be late for decoration.
Till then my sister-in-law had come. So we took a broom each and started running after the little pest. I named it Miss M. Miss M was in the living room so first we closed all the openings of other rooms and blocked them with bedsheets. Then we moved all the furniture and started chasing Miss M. Now I know what Tom must have felt like. We are supermoms but we are perpetually super tired the whole day. So after 20 min of no luck we gave up. And Miss M went and hid behind the wooden panels near the living room TV.
I again cleaned the living room and finished the decor. Luckily Reya woke up late.
She came down and we were all waiting for her, with the music ‘Happy Birthday’ playing in the background. My God. How she blushed. Kaira and Kabir hugged her and she just could not believe it was her b’day finally.
Fast forward to the evening. We had organized a pool party which was supposed to be super fun as we have this giant sized inflatable pool with sofa seats and drink holders. But, the weather was windy and not suitable for the little ones. So we converted it to a bubble party. Just looking at the pics will tell you how much fun they had.
After this, the cake was set and candles were lit. We video called our relatives so that they also can sing the birthday song with us.
She blew on the candles and as soon as we started singing, I saw from the corner of my eyes, a familiar ball rolling around and hiding under the dining table. She also wanted to enjoy the party. So, this Miss M, whom I had grown to admire, was waiting there patiently , listening to us sing and maybe humming along.
Now, if I drew everybody’s attention to miss M, we might catch her but then Reya might miss her b’day love. And Miss M also might not see happy moments again. So, very stealthily, I moved the chairs so that she would be trapped in a corner.
But she was way too smart for me. She made a dash and ran past me to the most inaccessible location of the house. The middle of the bottom of bed. My bed. This was an open challenge.
But then my husband called me to the kitchen for dinner. This is not over, Miss M. We will meet again. Till then, Stay Home. Stay safe.
P.S. We put up two mouse traps. Luckily Miss M was not that smart as she pretended to be, and got caught the next day.
This looks awesome Richa… looking forward for more posts of celebrating birthdays in a different way….
Thankyou dear. Will keep you updated whenever I add new themes.
I loved the way you narrated the mouse episode. Keep being creative 👌
Thankyou so much ma’am. This comment is a great encouragement, coming from you.
Very cute post!
Thank you Prerna.I am glad that you liked it. You might also like this No Party post for your son.
While reading I felt I’m part of it 🙂 lovely 🙂
Thank you Jyoti. It boosted my morale.
Really nice and innovative
Thank you Poonam