Seth's Birthday

"Hey Setheleh!" Sandy uttered as he entered the kitchen, noticing his son sitting at the table with paper, pens, scissors and glitter spread out over the table in front of him.

"Watcha doing there?" Sandy questioned, looking over at his son.

"Hi Daddy! I'm doing my invitations for my Birthday party, so no peeking OK? I want them to be a surprise!" Seth jabbered, obviously excited at the idea of having a party and being able to create his own invitations.

"OK, I won't peek, Seth. I bet they'll look great though, you're working very hard on them!" Sandy replied, encouraging his son in his creative pursuit.

"Have you decided what you want for your Birthday yet, my darling?" Sandy asked his son as he rummaged in the cupboards for a mug.

"Yes Daddy, I'd like a new Super Nintendo game, the Spiderman one I showed you, do you remember? And the Superman comic I saw in the comic book store last week, a skateboard and, uh, some paints too... Is that too much, Daddy?" Seth questioned, not wanting to sound too greedy.

Sandy smiled at his son's concerned tone, proud that his little boy was so aware of the fact he couldn't always have what he wanted.

He'd been devastated to find out that some people lived on the streets or in houses that weren't nearly as nice as his, and that they didn't have lots of toys or a nice Mommy and Daddy who played with them and tucked them in at night, like he did.

"Daddy, wouldn't it be cool if I had a friend called Eena? Then I could say 'Hi Eena, are you at the zoo today?' and it would be funny, wouldn't it!" Seth declared, looking to his Dad for approval of the joke, that it and him were indeed funny.

Sandy managed not to burst out laughing at his son's silliness. He swallowed his gulp of coffee successfully and turned to Seth with a grin.

"Yeah, that would be funny... What about if you had a friend called Ellie whose surname was Funt, that would be funny too, wouldn't it?" he offered. Seth giggled at his father's situation and they began making up more people's names that sounded like animals, like Allie Gater, G. Rarf and others.

Shortly before lunchtime, Seth's invitations were finished. He cleaned up his mess, as he knew they'd be making lunch soon, and the kitchen needed to be tidy for that, and then he called out to his parents. Sandy emerged from the lounge and Kirsten came out of her office.

Sandy commented on how there were only two invitations and wondered aloud if Seth only wanted to invite two special friends and have a sleepover instead of a regular party.

Seth shook his head and paused for a moment before replying to his father's question.

"Well, Daddy, I want to invite my two best friends in the whole wide world to my party...You and Mommy!" Seth explained excitedly, handing his parents an invitation each. The two adults glanced at eachother, exchanging looks that were both full of concern and pride.

Kirsten and Sandy opened the envelopes the invitations were in and were very impressed with their son's handiwork.

Seth had made two beautiful invitations out of red card and had decorated them with pictures of balloons, stars, cake and presents in gold pen, as a border. In the centre, he'd written "Please come to Seth Ezekiel Cohen's 7th Birthday party on the 7th of October for pizza, cake and a movie."

Kirsten knelt down to be able to make eye contact with Seth. She put her arms round his middle and he put his arms round her neck.

"Sweetie, thank you for the invitation, it's beautiful! Are you sure you just want it to be you and me and Daddy for your Birthday? I don't mind if you want to invite everyone in your class, you know." she declared, still looking her little boy in the eye.

"It's OK, Mommy, I want it to just be you and me and Daddy, you guys are my best friends after all!" he replied in a tone that matched his mother's when there was no room for argument.

"OK, sweetheart, if you're sure that's what you want... I promise I won't be mad if you change your mind though," she announced, holding Seth close as she did.

Seth nodded and once again declared he was sure of what he wanted, before snuggling his face into her shoulder.

She picked him up and spun him round in her arms before handing him to her husband.

"Thank you for the lovely invitation, Setheleh! Do we have to dress up or wear fancy clothes to your party?" he questioned, as his son gave him an impulsive kiss on the cheek.

"No, there's no dress code for my party, Daddy, but you can if you want to" he explained.

Kirsten suggested they put the invitations up on the fridge door so anyone who visited could see what a great artist Seth was. He nodded enthusiastically and Sandy placed him on the counter as Kirsten busied herself with magnets to put up Seth's handiwork.

"OK, Setheleh, we have to start lunch now. Do you want to butter the bread for the sandwiches like you usually do?" sandy asked his son, drawing up a chair for his little boy so they could stand side by side at the counter. Seth's "helping" really just created more mess than necessary, but he enjoyed helping and hanging out with his dad, so it was worth it really.

"Now, where should Mommy be when food is being prepared?" Sandy added teasingly, winking at his wife as he did so.

"As far away as possible!" Seth replied, recognising the jokiness in his father's tone. They high-fived eachother and then made shooing motions at Kirsten who pretended to be offended but she blew them both a kiss as she left the room.

For Seth's Birthday, they ended up going to the zoo, having a pizza and ice-cream in a small, child-friendly restaurant on the pier and then going home for cake consumption, present opening and a movie of Seth's choice, which Kirsten fell asleep during. Seth was thrilled with the gifts he'd received, especially the fairground Monopoly the Nana had sent him, and so they all played that after they'd watched the movie.