Birthday!

Today is Andy's birthday. He is four! That all seems somewhat impossible to believe somehow. Sure, I have lived every one of those 1,200 plus days, but dang, 1,200 plus days? Really?

I am so proud of where he is. He loves to talk and listen to good stories (our new favorites, anything about the Pigeon Driving the Bus, Professor Poopypants or Knuffle Bunny). He loves to notice things, like the full moon or the color of the leaves. He loves playing with his sister (most days) and he totally adores his older brother and sister. He is learning math at a rapid pace, more so than reading actually although he knows all his letters and can even recognize a few words (like Andy, Target, Exit and Home Depot.) He loves to kick balls, do puzzles, play Ninja Warrior and watch television. He's a great kid and I'm lucky he's mine.

We threw a birthday party for him at the bowling alley. We had eight kids, aging from 16 months to 5 1/2, all the kids of my soccer friends plus family. Next year, I'm sure I have to invite his friends, but this year? I just invited our inner circle instead. We had two lanes for eight bowlers, complete with ramp and bumpers. The first game took about 45 minutes for each lane, then we had a hot dog and french fry lunch followed by ice cream and cake. Then I let him open presents, which all the kids helped with (which Andy actually loved). Then one final game and it was over. Andy had a great time, as did most of the kids. And at the end of it? The mess stayed there. Pretty good deal, I thought.

Rather than goody bags of choking hazards, I picked up mylar balloons for each of the kids. I think it went over pretty well with the kids and their parents. I did make a conscious decision to let him open presents. Most parties we go to these days they don't open the presents with the kids there and I know Andy often really wants his friends to see what he gave them (although most kids tell what the present is during opening, "Andy! It's a motorcycle inside!" Cracks me up.)

The only real damper is Meg is sick. Again. Poor thing threw up last night and now has diarrhea and generally wasn't herself all morning. Can someone please tell the well-kid Gods I will pay them whatever they need to please, please give my kids a healthy stretch for a while? Please? I hate to be such a whiner, but it's really killing me.

The list

I lieu of a good post, here's a list of the exciting things in our world:

• Today is Bjorn's birthday. We're nine years apart in age again after a brief two week span of only being eight years difference. That seemed like a huge gap, but now it seems pretty normal. A factor of age, I'm sure.
• Meg is really starting to grab things. She's starting to pull a toy toward her mouth. Beyond adorable.
• The six-year-old son of Meg's babysitter has figured out how to make her laugh on command. Also beyond adorable, except I can't replicate it at home.
• Andy's language is getting more complex. I can't quite put my finger on it exactly, but when I picked him up yesterday, he said, "I had a pretty good day, Mommy." It just sounded so grown up.
• His language is so mature, but he still says some little kid things, like three comes out more "th-free" and Little Einsteins is "Little Ein-tines." It's adorable and I'm already sad that he's outgrowing so many of these cutisms.
• Andy, sadly, has also picked up saying, "Are we there yet?" And he says it over and over again.
• We're having a few friends and family over this weekend for Meg's baptism. I sent out real, hard copy invitations. Can I tell you how few people actually bothered to RSVP? What's up with that?
• My parents arrive tomorrow. Yay.
• I have discovered Facebook. God help me.

Young Gentleman's lunch

We did make it to the Young Gentleman's Luncheon yesterday and it was nice. It was more an organized play date with several little boys both older and much younger, ranging from four years to four months, and their parents. My friend made food that kids like, including macaroni and cheese, pigs in a blanket, chicken sticks and clover-shaped Jell-O. Andy didn't care for the food much so I ate his, but he did love the Jell-O and had two pieces. It was a nice event, especially since my friend is 10 weeks pregnant and hasn't been able to keep anything down for several weeks.

The dreaded goodie bag

The goodie bag. A rather deceiving name really for a bag of stuff that other parents give to kids in honor of a birthday. It sounds like a nice idea - to give kids something to remember after the party, but in truth it's a bunch of dollar store toys and candy that I probably don't want my kid to munch on. We had our first real exposure at school today. It was someone's birthday - I'm not sure who actually - and there were a bunch of adorable cartons (Batman for boys, what looked like purses for girls). I asked the teacher about it who said to take one. Andy was psyched and I know why - there were toys, bubbles, stickers and M&Ms in there. He was psyched for the toys and I made a point to hide the candy for a date when I'm desperate. No fights over it today, but I can see in the future a good fight over him insisting on eating another fistful of chocolate candy after eating four cupcakes and two juice boxes.

I find the whole goodie bag odd actually. So you invite people to a party where you give them entertainment, food and drinks. And in return for you doing this, you're also supposed to give them a trinket on the way out the door to further thank them for coming to your party? It seems like it should be the other way around almost - you do the inviting and hosting and the guests bring you a thank you for having us. The same goes for wedding favors. I could see if you were just having punch and cake that a trinket on the way out the door is a nice idea, but these days, folks spend at least $100 a head it seems on food and drink, not to mention entertainment and flowers, and then they get a gift, too?