Sunday, 20 May 2012
Today was Owen’s birthday party. He turned seven last Monday, so we’ve set a new record for largest gap between actual birthday and subsequent party (6 days).
The highlight of the party was a presentation by a mad scientist, courtesy of the Mad Science Group. I’m not sure why I just said “courtesy,” since we did have to pay for the presentation. Regardless, the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. The scientist used flames, color-changing liquids, and a bunch of dry ice – all of which make great visuals for 6 and 7 year-old kids (and there was one 4 year old in the bunch, too).
Afterward, there was the most frenetic gift-opening I’ve ever seen, in which all 10 guests (and that’s not including Owen’s sister, who was also in on the action) bombarded Owen with gifts to open. Some people brought two or three gifts for Owen, and some of the kids just randomly handed Owen one gift from a set so Owen really couldn’t keep track of who gave him which gift. He seemed to think the whole breakneck pace of opening gifts was just fine, though. We sorted through all the gifts later.
Then we had cake + ice cream. By this time, some of the parents came to pick up their kids, and some of the parents who had stayed for the duration decided to leave (it was the time the invitation said the party was over). So, we gave the kids their Mad Scientist gift bags and soon we were down to just five kids in the house, which was amazingly calm and quiet, relatively speaking.
About an hour later, another kid’s dad stopped by and picked him up, so then it was just our two kids and two friend and their moms. We ordered pizza.
A good day, I think. We were a little concerned having so many people at our house – especially when so many of them were under 10 years old. Owen’s last two birthday parties were not at our home, and the last time we did have a birthday party for Owen at our home (when he was four), was the smallest party he’s ever had (excluding when he was one). But I’m happy to say there were no major mishaps. Owen’s room wasn’t even that messy, though he inexplicably lost the remote control for his wall-mounted moon. No big deal. We’ll find it.
Jennifer says Owen’s next birthday party will be somewhere not here.
Monday, 21 May 2012
Just as the day after Christmas, Owen had to dig himself out from the festivities yesterday.
As of this morning, most of his gifts remained unopened. I mean, they’ve all been unwrapped, of course, but he hadn’t yet taken them out of the box or handled them or played with them as intended yet. This evening, he sat at the dining room table and put forth a concerted effort to construct one of his new Lego sets without any help.When he was done, he proudly showed us he’d pieced it together without any help. There were four pieces still sitting on the table. I was able to identify where two of those pieces connected, but the other two were likely supposed to be buried somewhere in the creation, so he didn’t get it quite right, but close enough.
Then he and Isla sat on the floor and played with more toys. Isla walked around with a small Yoda action figure. This was he gift to Owen, though it became apparent today that her desire to get it for Owen (when she saw it on the rack at the store) was just so she could play with it. She really digs Yoda. I think she can identify with a really short person.
Before bedtime, I asked Owen if he wanted to open up any more toys, but he said he’ll wait to another day. Sounds good to me.