involved

engine has a tendency to be sooky at times, and the day we had his party was no exception. never one to take that nonsense, i asked eddie to take wiggy and sly up to the local woollies and buy a bag of smarties.
the smarties served two purposes; i used them to lured engine away from his dad and to decorate his cake. i really believe in always having a more involved approach to cake making/decorating - it makes eveything more personal and memorable. never mind if you don't make the cake yourself, but if you can just do a little something, it's nice.
so, after i made and iced engine's cake, i left it quite plain. and i left it to him and his brothers and cousins to help adorn it. engine was quite absorbed and made sure the smarties didn't fall off the cake by pressing them deep into the cake. if he's too young to remember doing this, i'm sure there will be those who will remember...and remind him of how he added his personal touch to his birthday cake....and forgot about being clingy and sooky.