Birthday basics

It was a day of celebration at our house, but unfortunately, we didn't know about it until late this evening.

Today is Monty's birthday. He was 4 3/4, just like Biscuit, but today, he turned 5.

We still only have one child. Monty is Biscuit's imaginary friend.

I'm not sure how this birthday came into being, but around dinnertime, Biscuit said to me, "Mom, do you have a birthday cake? Today is Monty's birthday."

"I don't have any cake," I told Biscuit.

"Pssst," Biscuit said motioning me to bend over to his level. "Let me whisper something in your ear."

"Okay," I said, and leaned over.

"Mom, Monty is not real. He's just pretend," Biscuit explained. "So you just need to give him a pretend cake, okay?"

"Oooohhhhh," I said. I walked into the kitchen and moved my hands around on the kitchen counter. "Here you go, Monty. Here's a cake for you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"That's good, Mom," Biscuit said.

"Do you want to sing to him?" I asked.

"He just wants me to sing to him," Biscuit said. And he did.

I didn't hear Monty complain, so I guess his birthday cake was okay.

As we were eating dinner, Biscuit gave me an explanation about how birthdays work for imaginary people.

"Mom, when you have a pretend birthday, you stay the old you are," Biscuit said. "If you're real but you have a pretend birthday, and you're 9 years old, you don't turn 10."

"So how old is Monty?" I asked him.

"Monty was 4 3/4 just like me, but today he turned 5 years old," Biscuit said. "But on my pretend birthday, I'm still 4 3/4. See?"

Oh, I get it. I'm just wondering how something that involved occurs to a 4 3/4-year-old!