It was great. As usual, the YP got horribly spoiled and once again we will have to cull his toy collection lest it overtake our entire house.
As you might know, the child has a bit of a Star Wars obsession. It made choosing a birthday theme pretty easy, actually. (Except for that part where we went to the party store and looked for Star Wars stuff, and they had plates, cups, napkins and gift bags, but four of the five party favor items were sold out. Thefuh? This movie is almost as old as I am and stuff still sells out?) Since the YP is back in structured day care, I made cupcakes for a little class party, along with said gift bags.
(Oddly enough, I was informed yesterday by another kid's mother that the cupcakes were withheld as punishment from a couple of kids who didn't write their names on the board when told to, or some such. I'm disturbed by this. Not least of all because I included plenty for everyone, including the teachers, and the container was empty when I picked it up that night. And if you've seen my day care ladies... most of them don't need to be eating the kids' cupcakes, let's put it that way. I baked cookies for Valentine's party, and am half tempted to ask, "So, um, how many of these will actually be eaten by CHILDREN?")
Anyway, that night we all came home and opened about half the kid's presents. He was entranced with the shake-and-go Mater from Cars, probably because it's the loudest, most obnoxious thing he got. (He picked out Cars valentines for school, in fact, and loved the toy so much that he gave it the Mater card from the box.) Another big hit was a Buzz Lightyear. I think we've got a nice blend of Old School and New School going here.
Friday was a side-trip into pain; the YP had his Now-You-Are-Four checkup. He is 40 inches long and 32 lbs, and his hearing and vision are excellent. (The nurse was quite impressed when he answered each sound on the hearing test with perfect pitch.) Would that his attention span could keep up. The sad part was he wound up getting stabbed in each leg and one arm, and the cocktail did a number on him. Both legs got all swollen and hot and he whimpered about walking so much that he willingly went to bed at bedtime.
Then all was quiet until Saturday, when I woke up miserably sick with a cold, sore throat, bleh. I slept until noon and then took many, many drugs, and off we went to pick up the cake (the first year my darling boy wanted a STOREBOUGHT CAKE. Woe!)
And then we headed out to tae kwon do. The kid is doing all right, but what I really love is the teacher. He doesn't mess around, but he has fun. He takes things seriously, but he isn't a tyrant. He makes the kids go sit down if they are being obnoxious, but he allows a little latitude for general "hey, they're little boys" hyperness. Just Perfect. And we've been working on stuff at home without the kid kicking up a fuss, so I think we've hit on a successful activity.
After punching and kicking, it was off to the bowling alley to meet up with Dylan, Eric, Miss Jessica, and her cousin, Miss Angel. It was great. None of the girls bowled, and all the boys did.
The two little boys bowled one game in between pizza and cake and presents, and then the big boys bowled another game while the rest of us shoveled quarters into video games.
All in all, a rousing success, I thought. And better food than I would have thought bowling alleys provide. Though the actual bowling lanes were sort of prone to malfunction. I guess it's all what you're looking for in an afternoon.
Miss Jessica had been tasked with finding the YP a King character from Cars, and along with a great Cars pillow and some little candy cars, she came through like gangbusters -- with the same shake-and-go item that we found for Mater. The YP loves racing them. It's ... cacophonous.
After bowling it was on to ice skating. The poor kid did pretty well, considering he didn't get a practice in this week AND the doctor stabbage the day before. Next week is the last skating lesson. I am not sure we will pursue it further. Maybe later in life.
Once that lesson was over, we hied ourselves into town to meet up with Heather and Darren for a very nice dinner at Luna. Unfortunately, I was so stuffed from bowling alley food -- and the crud of my cold -- that I could only eat half of it. And then? More presents. D&H truly know the way to little boys' hearts, apparently. They got the kid a remote-controlled tarantula. And here is where I have to confess that my girly side was incredibly grossed out at having to touch the thing to get it out of the box AND play with its grody furry underbelly to put in the batteries. Urgh. The cat didn't know what to make of it either. Heh.
At the end of the day, though, I think the presents from Grandma and Grandpa Disneyland will have the most staying power: a stormtrooper helmet
and two Star Wars cartoons on DVD.
Next up, one of these days, photographic evidence that the pile of Star Wars junk this kid owns is taller than he is.
Next year, make the cupcakes BLUE. The teachers probably won't eat them, and if they do - you'll be able to tell who did! (I completely agree with you that the withholding of b-day cupcakes is just wrong; use some other form of punishment, lady. Sheesh.)
Happy Birthday, YP!
Posted by: tammara | February 14, 2007 at 12:02 PM
HAHA. I love Tammara's idea. What jerks.
Man, YP cleaned up! He's a lucky kid.
Posted by: nabbalicious | February 15, 2007 at 09:39 AM