Birthday Blues
August is upon us. Which means it's time for birthday angst. Not mine. Well, it's not my birthday. It is my angst.
To recap:
Doodles turns three later this month. Two days later, Sweetie Pie turns one. They will be sharing a party this year (and for as many years as I can get away with it).
The dilemmas:
Who to invite to the party? Do I invite the children of my friends, who I would like to come? Do I invite the kids that my children play with at daycare, even if I have no idea who they are (I was going to say, "Even if I don't know them from Adam," but since I do know Adam--at least one specific Adam, even if he's not the biblical Adam, at least, not to my knowledge, he's not--that particular trite expression doesn't work for me)? Do I say the hell with it and not invite any friends and just have family while Doodles is almost young enough for me to get away with it (definitely "almost," as when a friend came over recently, Doodles walked up to him and asked, "Are you coming to my birthday party?" Um, no! He's not invited in any of these scenarios! Oops!). Does Sweetie get to have any friends of her own come? Not that I'm aware of who her friends are because unlike when Doodles was that age, Sweetie Pie doesn't get playdates of her own. She gets to tag along on her brother's playdates.
Then there's poor Sweetie. Is her party simply an add-on to Doodles? Doodles is having a space theme party (excuse me, "a rocket party"). Sweetie gets her own cake because 1) I don't want her having chocolate yet as has been requested by the birthday boy and 2) I want her to be able to rip into her cake and I don't think it would fly with Doodles if she destroyed his rocket cake. Does Sweetie get her own theme? I mean, frankly, let's face it, Sweetie Pie really doesn't have any interests of her own yet other than my b*oobs, rocks and sticks that she can hide in her mouth, and stealing whatever toy Doodles is playing with. Does she get some planet or stars or something to go along with Doodles's cake or do I give her a theme of her own. And what nongirly theme could that be? No pink, no rainbows, no flowers, no princesses. Please! No princesses!! Avoiding the girly stuff is getting pretty tough. For how many years can I vet the presents first and then hide all the princess stuff? I really don't want to do the princess thing. (Hey! Look! I just guaranteed that Sweetie Pie is going to be obsessed with princesses. Maybe I should forbid football. That's probably the best way to insure she becomes the first female NFL player.)
How overboard do I let myself go with my Martha Stewart tendencies? My sister mockingly suggested cutting up pickle slices into triangles to put on as the fins of "hotdog rockets" and I actually for a few seconds considered it.
My mother tells of my third birthday party where she invited all of the neighborhood kids, got me my favorite ice cream cake, invited me downstairs where I took one look at the cake, one look at the crowd and ran back to my room screaming and she tried her best to get me back down. I believe this is the single photo from that day. I'm hoping to avoid this fate with my own children. And yet, I can't stop thinking, "How could I hang a space shuttle from the trees?" "Would the kids drink Tang?" "Is it possible to take the kids on a trip to Mars?" Am I creating a party my children are going to refuse to attend? (Although that's a nonsense thought, I'm sure, as Doodles will endure just about anything to get cake.)
I think this is all just a distraction to keep me from thinking about the fact that my little bitty baby will no longer be a little bitty baby, but a hulking toddler. And my little bitty toddler will no longer be a little bitty toddler but a--well, let's face it, he'll be a little bitty preschooler. My Doodles. Cute as can be, but still a peanut.
Sigh. And I've got the whole month to get through obsessing about all of this. It's going to a fun month.
To recap:
Doodles turns three later this month. Two days later, Sweetie Pie turns one. They will be sharing a party this year (and for as many years as I can get away with it).
The dilemmas:
Who to invite to the party? Do I invite the children of my friends, who I would like to come? Do I invite the kids that my children play with at daycare, even if I have no idea who they are (I was going to say, "Even if I don't know them from Adam," but since I do know Adam--at least one specific Adam, even if he's not the biblical Adam, at least, not to my knowledge, he's not--that particular trite expression doesn't work for me)? Do I say the hell with it and not invite any friends and just have family while Doodles is almost young enough for me to get away with it (definitely "almost," as when a friend came over recently, Doodles walked up to him and asked, "Are you coming to my birthday party?" Um, no! He's not invited in any of these scenarios! Oops!). Does Sweetie get to have any friends of her own come? Not that I'm aware of who her friends are because unlike when Doodles was that age, Sweetie Pie doesn't get playdates of her own. She gets to tag along on her brother's playdates.
Then there's poor Sweetie. Is her party simply an add-on to Doodles? Doodles is having a space theme party (excuse me, "a rocket party"). Sweetie gets her own cake because 1) I don't want her having chocolate yet as has been requested by the birthday boy and 2) I want her to be able to rip into her cake and I don't think it would fly with Doodles if she destroyed his rocket cake. Does Sweetie get her own theme? I mean, frankly, let's face it, Sweetie Pie really doesn't have any interests of her own yet other than my b*oobs, rocks and sticks that she can hide in her mouth, and stealing whatever toy Doodles is playing with. Does she get some planet or stars or something to go along with Doodles's cake or do I give her a theme of her own. And what nongirly theme could that be? No pink, no rainbows, no flowers, no princesses. Please! No princesses!! Avoiding the girly stuff is getting pretty tough. For how many years can I vet the presents first and then hide all the princess stuff? I really don't want to do the princess thing. (Hey! Look! I just guaranteed that Sweetie Pie is going to be obsessed with princesses. Maybe I should forbid football. That's probably the best way to insure she becomes the first female NFL player.)
How overboard do I let myself go with my Martha Stewart tendencies? My sister mockingly suggested cutting up pickle slices into triangles to put on as the fins of "hotdog rockets" and I actually for a few seconds considered it.
My mother tells of my third birthday party where she invited all of the neighborhood kids, got me my favorite ice cream cake, invited me downstairs where I took one look at the cake, one look at the crowd and ran back to my room screaming and she tried her best to get me back down. I believe this is the single photo from that day. I'm hoping to avoid this fate with my own children. And yet, I can't stop thinking, "How could I hang a space shuttle from the trees?" "Would the kids drink Tang?" "Is it possible to take the kids on a trip to Mars?" Am I creating a party my children are going to refuse to attend? (Although that's a nonsense thought, I'm sure, as Doodles will endure just about anything to get cake.)I think this is all just a distraction to keep me from thinking about the fact that my little bitty baby will no longer be a little bitty baby, but a hulking toddler. And my little bitty toddler will no longer be a little bitty toddler but a--well, let's face it, he'll be a little bitty preschooler. My Doodles. Cute as can be, but still a peanut.
Sigh. And I've got the whole month to get through obsessing about all of this. It's going to a fun month.
1 Comments:
You and I both.
S and D are a month apart and I always toy with having their birthdays together every year. But for the past two I let it go at the last minute. I wanted to give D her first one alone. Just because. But then the whole friend thing kicked in. S did have friends because of preshcool. It was hard. Honestly, I think the next two years will be the only two that I can actually get away with it. Not too young, not too old.
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