Hendrick's Birthday
Today has been a long and wonderful day. It was Hendrick's second birthday.
It's hard to believe my little boy has been on the planet for two full years. His transformation from a helpless little creature to one who stomps his feet and demands "Outside, now!" when he wants to play in the yard has been magnificent.
We celebrated by throwing him a big family party last weekend - with a car theme, of course. I made edible cars by gluing (with frosting) four mini-Oreos onto each Twinkie and a homemade ice cream cake. That was supposed to have candy cars on it, but we couldn't find the package when the time came to sing "Happy Birthday." (Hours later we found it underneath Hendrick's crib. Go figure...)
He had a wonderful time with his cousins and friends. We decorated pumpkins and the older kids ran a find-the-gourd hunt. We filled a pinata with small bags of low-fat cookies, pretzels and a few teeth-rotting sweets. (Hey, it was a party, after all.)
Today, however, was much more low key. Hendrick went to music class and the kids sang "Happy Birthday." My neighbor and her 4-year-old son came over after lunch and we sang over a cupcake shaped like a ghost. When John came home from work, we sang for a third time and ate more cupcakes. (I won't mention how many relatives called and sang over the phone.)
These are the days when it's easy to be a parent, when everything feels right with the world. I know it's not my birthday, but I can't help but feel that I am the one who received a gift today.
It's hard to believe my little boy has been on the planet for two full years. His transformation from a helpless little creature to one who stomps his feet and demands "Outside, now!" when he wants to play in the yard has been magnificent.
We celebrated by throwing him a big family party last weekend - with a car theme, of course. I made edible cars by gluing (with frosting) four mini-Oreos onto each Twinkie and a homemade ice cream cake. That was supposed to have candy cars on it, but we couldn't find the package when the time came to sing "Happy Birthday." (Hours later we found it underneath Hendrick's crib. Go figure...)
He had a wonderful time with his cousins and friends. We decorated pumpkins and the older kids ran a find-the-gourd hunt. We filled a pinata with small bags of low-fat cookies, pretzels and a few teeth-rotting sweets. (Hey, it was a party, after all.)
Today, however, was much more low key. Hendrick went to music class and the kids sang "Happy Birthday." My neighbor and her 4-year-old son came over after lunch and we sang over a cupcake shaped like a ghost. When John came home from work, we sang for a third time and ate more cupcakes. (I won't mention how many relatives called and sang over the phone.)
These are the days when it's easy to be a parent, when everything feels right with the world. I know it's not my birthday, but I can't help but feel that I am the one who received a gift today.
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