Early in January, Ben decided his birthday cake this year was going to be a shark. I got online in January (before the crazy moving chaos started) to find the perfect shark cake. Nick helped me and together we found an awesome 3-D cake with shark head coming up out of the cake. Not easy, but doable. Decision made.
Fast forward to two days before Ben's birthday when I jumped online to get a printout of the masterpiece. Ben happened to be sitting next to me when I pulled up the image and said, "I don't like that cake." He told me the me the dorsal fins "were all wrong." And it wasn't the right kind of shark either. I tried to convince him of just how cool it was for a few minutes but he wasn't budging. We looked through tons of cakes to find what he wanted, then printed out a picture of the "right" shark species that he colored to look just right. I baked while he colored and we talked the entire time. He confirmed with me several times exactly what his expectations were for the cake. While totally entertained by his attention to detail, a gift that only yours truly could have given him, I gently reminded him that this wasn't National Geographic.....
The next morning was Operation: Decorate. After a second trip to the grocery store before school for more supplies and then a run to the neighbors for two more sticks of butter, I barely had enough frosting. With nearly two double batches of frosting gone, I said a little prayer and kept going. I love the actual decorating part and had a blast making this little shark fella come to life. Ben had been kicked out of the kitchen- kids in this house never see their birthday cake before the party-but spent most the morning trying to sneak in and see what what going on. I kindly informed him that all was going well with his ballerina cake and that he had nothing to worry about. He said he saw what he thought was a fish, but I confirmed that it was actually a butterfly. It made him craaaazy, thinking that I had thrown all of his very specific requests to the wind. The teasing kept up all day and he loved it. At one point, we were in the car talking about it and he said, "Ok, let me get this straight. You are teasing me. You say you made me a ballerina cake but you really made a shark cake. I know it. I KNOW IT!"
When it was finally time, he closed his eyes and waited for his cake to be brought to the table. That sweet little face light up at his stared at it. A huge grin spread across his face and he looked at me and said, "I KNEW it was a shark!" Nick said something to him about it being a ballerina and Ben responded with, "Yeah, Nick, we're gonna make YOU a ballerina cake...for real life!" As the birthday boy, he got to choose the first piece......
Later, when I went in to tuck him in, he was looking at his books in bed but stopped for a second to say, "Thanks mom, for making my shark cake." My heart melted. He loved it and I knew he did. The last two days had been full of sweet moments and happy memories, which thankfully, would last longer than the cake.
