Where in the world does the time go?
Like a flash of light, our little boy’s birthday was upon us in the blink of an eye. It seems like only yesterday we were welcoming him back home to the cats, a slew of visitors, and introducing him to this thing called life for the very first time. Now, we’ve wrapped up celebrating his first year on earth.
It was a good, handmade event, due in most, if not all part, to Meg. And if you’d like to read HER take on all of this, you can do so over at her blog. She spent months building up to this day, planning out everything from his smash-cake (made from all kinds of tasty, yet healthy things he likes, such as apple sauce and yogurt, versus mostly sugar and corn syrup), to the paper decorations that lined the backyard. She made streamers, she made tissue paper ‘poofs’ that hung from above, and she made a crown out of felt, that the little guy wore letting everyone know he was king of the party.
The menu was made up of many of the monkey’s favorite foods, or at least those he’s tasted in tiny, broken-off portions. There was pizza from our favorite pizza parlor, homemade sandwiches on a freshly baked bread, fruit salad, cheese, crackers, and more.
It can sometimes be a little bit of a risk when you bring both family and friends together as you never know how anyone is going to blend or interact with each other. In our case, it all went off great. He did need a little urging to stick his hands in the smash-cake, not wanting to make a mess (which is kind of surprising considering how messy he gets with, say, pasta for dinner). When it came to open his gifts, his attention was more focused on the wrapping paper or the people around him than on what he was actually receiving, but boy were our friends and family good to him.
Whether it was some new Mo Willems books for our collection, or some of the Fisher Price Retro-toys (a milk truck?! a portable radio?! how neat is this line of toys?!), Little People on a Farm or a Little People version of the Justice League, he made out like a bandit. Although, that little red tricycle from an old friend will have to wait a few years until he’s old enough to ride. 😉
The weather held out as we gathered and had a great, if not tiring time by day’s end. He only needed one nap toward the end of his party, although mommy and daddy wanted about seven naps by the time things were over – no such luck on our end.
As I say, the kudos for the day being as creative and as much of a throwback to backyard parties of yore goes to Meg, who put her all into making this first birthday one to be remembered. And, of course, having our loved ones around us helped seal that memory in.
If I could only figure out how he so quickly went from that little, wrapped up baby in our arms a year ago, to the little man standing on his own, making noises, and playing with toys today. As much as I don’t want them to, I know the years ahead will go by just as fast, if not faster. I can’t stop that, as the past 365 days have proven.
What I can do, though, is make sure that I enjoy every single moment we do have – the good, the bad, and everything in between, because they won’t be here forever.
The Dorky Daddy 