Two parties for the birthday boy.

Today was Fintan's second birthday party...yes, his second. (Though it is his 5th Birthday, if you know what I mean).

Fintan is a sociable boy and, in the past year he has accumulated enough friends and social contacts among the little people of Singapore, to justify two parties.

His first party was on his birthday, at Wild, Wild, Wet - the water park in Pasir Ris. I will write of that in the next day or two. His second party was, at his request, at McDonald's.

About two dozen children and about a dozen adults attended. It was in a rather picturesque McDonald's, unlike the typical outlet, that had an ornamental pool, shaded "gazebos", a three dimensional play area for the children and a mixed indoor/outdoor selection of seating areas. It is a pleasant and relaxing environment deliberately designed to be welcoming for children.

The kids were treated like little Kings by the staff. A McDonald's staff member was appointed to take the orders from the little ones, showing them a menu with brightly coloured pictures to point at. The food was delivered by trolley service, as if it were an airline and laid out on a double row of tables that had been set out for our two dozen little ones.

Games were played with the kids, by the staff. Fintan's favourite was one in which he was sat down while his friends queued to place clothes pegs on his clothes. It was a competitive game, two groups vying to see how many pegs they could put on their "victim", in a set time. Fintan's team didn't win - but he was good natured about it and was rather happy with it all.

In between games and eating, the kids ran around as if in training for the junior olympics. Luckily, there was plenty of space for them to do so. By the end of it, quite a few of them looked as if they had been caught out in the rain - that was how much they had sweated. Needless to say, the adults wisely decided not to follow them around, but let them zip around on their own, while watching from the safety and leisure of their seats.

At the end, Fintan had to give out goodie bags to all his guests. He was quite shy to do this at first and had to be coaxed, by the presence of his mother behind him, to stand in front of a long queue of friends and give them a bag each, while thanking each of them for coming.

Once home, Fintan proceeded to open a huge bag of presents: it was just like Christmas.

I would like to thank all who came for making Fintan's birthday enjoyable, memorable and fun. He was very happy to see such a good turnout.

Tellingly, we had offered Fintan a chance to travel to a destination of his choice, for his birthday, or to have a party with his friends. Although he has liked all the holidays he has had, he had no hesitation in choosing a party with his friends.

Happy 5th Birthday, Fintan!

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)