Celebrating Kayan’s Second Birthday in Goa

Our little baby just turned two, and we came back to India from Myanmar just in time to watch him try to his best to blow out his candles. Since Ava turned one, I’ve taken great pride in baking each one of the kids’ birthday cakes. Since we are on the road, I decided to outsource Kayan’s cake to the local baker in Goa. I asked Kayan what kind of birthday cake he wanted, to which Ava replied “soccer ball!” And Kayan echoed “soccer ball!” The soccer ball request brought a look of confusion to the Indian baker’s face until we remembered that, outside the U.S., it’s football. Unfortunately the gluten-free request didn’t go very far, but we ended up with a perfect wheat-filled football strawberry shortcake.

As the youngest members, Ava and Kayan are celebrities of sorts within our extended family. Two of my cousins even flew in for Kayan’s birthday extravaganza. Hopefully the star treatment doesn’t go to his head.

We’re back in Goa and what better way to celebrate a two year old’s birthday than on one of the area’s beaches.

The kids enjoyed the water while the adults basked in the sun and chowed seafood, including the biggest crab I have ever seen.

Some people have lamented that Ava and Kayan won’t remember much of this journey. However, most of our eventual personalities are formed by the time we are six years old. Kayan is a third of the way there. Even if Kayan doesn’t remember the places we’ve been, the people we’ve met or the things we’ve seen, I hope that this year plays a meaningful role in shaping who he and Ava become. I can’t say how this journey has impacted the kids, but I know that at two, Kayan is a confident, adaptable, and adventurous soul. We’d like to think a lot of that has been formed while on the road interacting with people from all over the world. Sometimes he drives us insane, but all in all I think he’s shaping up to be a nice young man.