My WAW did nothing for my birthday last month. That was deliberate; she has all these things loaded in her calendar. It was also expected; my W misses no opportunity to stick it to me as payback for making her life miserable. A week later my D13 realized they had missed it and apologized. (A couple of months ago D and I watched "Sixteen Candles" together, so it resonated with her.)
Yesterday was my W's birthday. I got the kids a card and a gift card to give her, from them. I wanted the kids to see the right thing to do, regardless of how W and I are getting along. Later, after the kids gave her the card, my W actually said thank you to me. She brought me a piece of birthday cake last night, too. Both were unexpected. Every once in a while, her true good self shines through.
Anyway, raliced, I don't know that any of it means much one way or another. Men are notoriously bad at remembering birthdays at the best of times, and given his state, you were right not to expect anything. I wouldn't read malevolence into it, nor would I let it suggest how he might be at co-parenting. We LBS's always want to read things as "signs", and more often than not, we just end up beating ourselves up with the signpost.
Hope you made yourself have a good day, and know that next year's birthday will be better, because that is what you want, and therefore, you will make it so.
