Happy birthday Kirin

As most of you have seemed to remember, today is Kirin's third birthday. Thanks to all of you who sent us cards, gifts and e-mails; it is embarrassing to admit that most of our friends with children seem to have a much better calendar of our children's birthdays than we do of theirs, something which Johanna and I are both hoping to change.

The day was a pretty good one. We started (at 6am) by opening presents. Here are some pics:

From left: Aliens love underpants, from Pooa and Phoofer; A Salmon for Simon from Sara, Michael, Cole and Oliver

Part of the National Geographic Bug Barn, a set with a net (left) and a barn (right) to allow you to check out bugs at close range

A couple of cute puzzles from Sarah, Scott and Max in Sydney

And finally, our gift to Kirin: a bike and a helmet. He wore the helmet all day, from the time he put it on in the morning, for the duration of his time a nursery and all afternoon until about 6pm when he put on his pyjamas for bed.

It is hard to believe that it has been three years since our gourgeous boy arrived in the world and turned our lives upside down and back again. It's weird, but on the one hand it feels like only yesterday that we brought Kirin home from the hospital and at the same time, he seems to be growing up so fast that it is sometimes easy to forget just how young he is.

I suppose this sounds like the kind of thing my own parents would have said, but this afternoon, when I was running to try and keep up with Kirin zooming away on his bike and Johanna was pushing Malik, suited up in his fuzzy, fleecy hoodie, in his push chair, it was hard not to feel proud and happy and overwhelmed by our lovely little family. Long may the glorious adventure continue.