Today I went to my first party where I had to wear a “cos-tume”. It was my friend Jackson’s birthday and he was having a party for being two.

Daddy came home from work in the morning because he had been working in the night time again, and he stayed up and played with me and mummy because now he is not going to go back to work for a few days. He was very slow and dozy, though, and he kept lying down on the floor and falling asleep. When he did this I had to climb on him and pat his tummy and say, “Dad-dee!!” to wake him up. Mummy found this very funny.

The parent staff took me to the big shop to get some food, and some new pretty dresses for me because I am getting too big for my other dresses. One of my new dresses has an owl on it. Daddy wanted to buy it for me because I can say owl in the staff language – “ow-ul” – and he thinks that this is wonderful.

While we were in the big shop I was in the trolley seat, and it was boring so I kept pulling mummy’s finger and saying, “Walk! Walk!”, but mummy would not let me get down. I think that this is because last time mummy let me walk around the big shop, she gave me some bread to hold and I ran away out of the door with it, and mummy said that I was “shop-lifting”. I am not sure what this is but it must have been bad, because after mummy had caught me again her face was very red, and she has not let me walk in the big shop since this day.

So I stayed in the trolley seat, and daddy took us for food in the cafe upstairs. I stole some of daddy’s toast, which was very nice.

Then we went home and I played and had a nap. After nap time, mummy woke me up and told me that she needed to put me in my “cos-tume”. I was going to be a “pi-rate”, and I had jeans and a stripy T-shirt, and cool boots and a hat that daddy had made for me. Mummy and daddy both said that I looked very cute when I was all dressed up.

Mummy put me in her car so that she could drive me to the party, and daddy said goodbye to us and went upstairs to bed because it was time for his nap now.

The party was in the house where Jackson’s nanny lives, and when we got there, Nic was waiting to say hello to us. Nic is Jackson’s mummy. She told me that I looked very good in my “cos-tume”.

Nic took us to play in the garden, where there was a bouncy castle and a sand pit. This was very good fun. I went on the bouncy castle with mummy and Jackson and another little girl who was the same size as me. Then I went to play in the sandpit, and I got my hands very dirty and wiped them on mummy.

After this, everyone went inside because it was time for food. We had some very nice party food on a special plate, and mummy let me have some “sausage roll”, which I have never had before. Then I played with some “ball-oons” and some of Jackson’s toys.

There were lots of grown-ups at the party and I was a little bit frightened because they were all very big and I am very small. But I found that if I took mummy with me when I wanted to go somewhere new, it was not so scary.

After I had played for a while, everybody went into the living room and Nic shut the curtains and made it all dark, and then she brought in Jackson’s “birthday cake”, which looked like an island with treasure on it. Then she lit some little candles on the cake and asked Jackson to blow them out. While Nic was lighting the candles she said, “Ready ... Ready ...”, and this is a word that I know in the staff language, so I said “READY!” very loudly, and everybody laughed at me.

Jackson blew out his candles and everybody sang a song and clapped, and I clapped too. Then Nic brought me a piece of “birthday cake” and asked mummy if I was allowed to have some. Mummy has not let me have cake before. Usually she tells me that it is “grown-up fruit” and that I am not allowed it, but really I think that she just wants to eat it all herself because she is greedy. Today, though, mummy let me have a little bit of cake, and it was really nice. I think that mummy is mean for not letting me eat cake before now.

Soon after this, mummy had to take me home, so we gave goodbye kisses to Nic and Jackson, and mummy said thank you to Jackson’s nanny for having us.

Then mummy drove us home to daddy, and the parent staff started to get me ready for bed. Just before my bedtime, Auntie Al arrived at our house with Sammy, who is her “boy-friend”. A “boy-friend” is a bad person who daddies want to shoot. I know this because that’s what my daddy told me. Daddy says that if I ever get a “boy-friend”, then he will shoot him.

Sammy does not seem very bad though. I like him and I think it is nice when he comes to visit me.

Auntie Al and Sammy came to listen to my story tonight, and to give me kisses when daddy lifted me into my cot. I hope that they will still be here when I get up to play tomorrow.

I have had an exciting day today. When I am two, I will have a party and there will be lots of cake, and mummy will not be allowed to eat any of it.