Come, Mommy

You’ve read all about Kiri’s entrance into the world, so now it’s time to give you the birthday party run-down, complete with pictures. I’m sorry it took a while for me to get this post up and written, but we’ve had all of us sick over the last week with what I am desperately hoping is the last respiratory virus of Cold & Flu Season 2007-2008. “Better late than never”, or so the saying goes, and given the importance (and fun!) of Baby’s First Birthday, I’m sure it’s true in this case.

At any rate, Kieran’s birthday this year actually fell on Easter Sunday, April 23rd. We figured that that Sunday probably was not the best time for a party, so we voted for the next weekend, April 29th. Liam and I chose a “teddy bear” theme for the event, and we had some fun picking out teddy bear napkins, cups, and so on at Target. While we were there we found some fun teddy bear stickers for goody bags, and of course Liam was allowed to add another engine to his collection of trains because you can’t go to Target and only buy stuff for one kiddo, right? (That wouldn’t be fair at all, or so I was informed.)

We invited a pretty small number of close friends and neighbors. While there were a few families who couldn’t make the party due to various conflicts, we still had enough people to make for a cheery afternoon without the whole thing being crowded, noisy, and generally overwhelming for the children in attendance. My general plan was that we would have some snacks, the children could do a craft activity while the grown-ups visited, and then we would have cake and ice cream and the older children could help the Birthday Boy open his presents. As happens with most plans involving small children, things didn’t go quite to plan, but things still worked out well.

We had all of the families but one arrive pretty much together. We got everyone inside and set out the drinks and snacks. It was such a beautiful warm day that after about five minutes Liam and his friend J from across the street decided they wanted to go play in the backyard. After that, all the children decided to play outside, so instead of doing the craft project, we ended up with the grown-ups and Kieran inside visiting, and the big kids and a couple of dads out in the yard playing catch. After a while our missing family arrived - they have 15 month old twins and had been forced by an errant overtime nap to either arrive late or awaken a sleeping toddler. I’d say they made the right choice, wouldn’t you!

We finally realized that we were 2/3 of the way through our allotted party time, so we decided to bring out the fun stuff - cake, ice cream, and presents. We got the cake from the same bakery that made Liam’s birthday cake last fall; that cake was so delicious that the thought of having again brought big smiles to our faces. So we ordered the chocolate-chip cake with buttercream frosting, but minus the fire engine theme. This cake was decorated in blue and yellow icing, with a teddy bear, some balloons, and “Happy Birthday, Kieran!” drawn on the top. We treated Kiri to a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday to You!” and everyone dug in to the goodies.

I fed Kieran some cake, and he spit it out. I tried it again - he spit it out again, and then flat out refused the rest. Ever ready to help his brother in a moment of need, Liam consoled Kiri with, “Don’t worry, Kieran! I’m right here and I’m your big brother. You don’t have to eat things you don’t like on your birthday, that’s my rule. So I’ll eat your cake for you. Don’t worry!” I am happy to report, however, that Kiri about threw himself out of my lap in his haste to eat more ice cream, so the Birthday Boy did end up having a tasty treat on his birthday after all.

By that time some of the children were tired and some of the families had to leave to take care of them or to go various places. We said our good-by’s and thanks you’s, and then with the remaining guests we sat down and helped Kiri with the unwrapping. We truly have some wonderful friends who love our children, and after the unwrapping, Kiri was left with some much-needed warm weather clothes and an assortment of fun toys including an airplane, a truck, and a puzzle.

By far his favorite gift is a fabulous “Gnome Home.” I’m actually planning to tell you more about this toy in another post as it is just a work of art and you really have to see it at a time when you’re not skimming through an already-too-long post. My friend and talented knitter Lisa knitted and then felted a woolen house with removable felted roof. Then she knitted a half-dozen wee gnomes who live inside the house. Kieran loves to pull the gnomes out and drop them back in their home time after time. Sometimes, though, he prefers to sit and watch out the window while rubbing one of the soft little gnomes across his chubby baby face. It is the sweetest thing to see.

And with that, after everyone was filled with cake and the last present unwrapped, we looked around at a collection of now very tired children. Our remaining guests collected their belongings and their children and made their way home. It really was a wonderful party. To those of you who were there, thank you so much for coming; it’s a pleasure to have such wonderful friends with whom to share the milestones of our children’s lives. And to those who couldn’t make it, no worries, I’ve got the pictures below!

The Birthday Boy waiting eagerly for his party to start…

Here come his Big Brother with the balloons. Everyone knows you need balloons or it just isn’t a party.

“Hey, look! I’ve got my own balloon! Whee!”

Here’s a shot of Kevin telling Liam to keep his hands out of the birthday cake. Liam couldn’t for the life of him figure out how Daddy knew he was stealing the icing. Hee hee!

The cake with its candle, all ready to go!

“Mommy, Mommy, ice cream! More! Ice cream! Where have you guys been hiding this stuff all my life?”

Seriously, I have never seen a baby sign “more” so quickly and clearly.

Wow, who knew birthday parties are so fun? I mean, where else can a guy find all this crinkly paper to tear and cardboard boxes to play with?”

And here’s Mr. One himself. He was so worn out he fell asleep in the middle of dinner. It was fortuitous that we had already gotten him ready for bed.

And there you have it - the run-down on Kieran’s 1st Birthday. Thank you for sticking it out this far and reading all the way to the bottom. For my next post I promise the keep the word “brevity” in mind as I write. Have a wonderful evening, everyone!