Monday, June 13, 2005

Birthday Party #5

Natalie had birthday party number 5 yesterday, and while it was not as full-blooded an affair as numbers 1 and, say, 2, much fun was nonetheless had by all. Highpoints and "key learnings":

  • Graham's first cupcake -- Graham, with his milk and egg allergies, doesn't have much food fun. He is, in fact, pretty much shy of new foods. However, somehow the chocolate cupcake with pink sprinkles called out to him and he just knew it had to be right, and he ate it down with no delay, his first big sugar delivery ever. And he deemed it good.
  • All credit to Mary for her foresight in making the cupcakes and, indeed, the party, dairy and egg free. Where usually we're watching Graham like lactose-intolerant hawks, if occasionally insufficiently so, yesterday we had no need to worry.
  • Don't overengineer. Although birthday parties at this age -- when more parents do the drop-off maneuver -- become exercises in potlatch childcare (you watch my kid today, and I'll watch yours a few months hence), you don't really need to schedule that intensely. 2 hours is not much time. Especially with a sprinkler.
  • City boys add spice -- We were graced with the presence of the honorable Joseph R. Wolin of Manhattan, along with the dashing young Conrad Ventur. The party was measurably funner. Usually you see many of the same people on the birthday party circuit, with the inevitable plusses and minusses.
  • Natalie is now 5.
    Pink and purple are still her favorite colors.
    She has not yet mastered the art of blowing out candles.

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