Back to What I was Saying ...

I started to tell you about Alex's birthday and then got sidetracked comparing and contrasting my babies' births. And I didn't even get started on Brendan! Well, since you asked, it was like this ... Just kidding! I'll save that for another day.

Alex had a great birthday. He had been SO excited for days. It got him into trouble more than once. The day before, I was trying to have a serious conversation with Kate, and he barged into the middle. "Why aren't you talking about my birthday?" Um, well, maybe because we aren't all quite as obsessed with your birthday as you are? And when I scolded him for being rude, he broke down in tears. I think the excitement was a bit much for him.

But the big day was great. Mark and I took donut holes and hot chocolate to his class midmorning. Alex was just flying high as the center of attention. Two of his little girl friends came over and sang to him and gave him a card they had made. It was so sweet.

In the evening, my family came over for spaghetti and cake. Of course, Alex doesn't eat spaghetti. He doesn't eat much of anything! But I made him a cheese quesadilla first, which he ate while he played chess with his grandpa. Then, after everyone had arrived and eaten, and the candles had been lit and blown out, Alex tore into his stack of gifts. He got several funny T-shirts from people who know him well. He laughed with such abandon that the rest of us couldn't help but join in! He was one happy camper! (I had to tell him, the next morning, after he had recited the saying on the front of his favorite shirt to me several times, that a joke is only funny the first time a person hears it. "If you want to tell the joke fifty times, you need to find fifty different people to tell it to," I said. He was confused, wanted to know why. After all, it was still making him laugh! And apparently it did get some good laughs at school, too, which was an added bonus!

The next day, I picked up two of his friends, Zach and Kaci, from school. We joined Kate and her friend Shawne and Zach's mom and siblings at the junior high and set off for the Chuck E. Cheese in Beaverton. They had such a blast! We had pizza, of course, and a cake that I had brought in. Alex opened his gifts from Zach and Kaci. The gifts Kaci brought him were perfect for him. The thing is, I don't know her mother, at all. Those gift ideas had to come from Kaci herself. I was already fond of her just for being my son's friend. But when I got a chance to watch them together, to see how she treats him just like any other kid, how she doesn't seem in any way to even register that she might be "doing him a favor ..." I just wanted to snatch her up and kiss her. But she's a couple years too old for that, so I restrained myself.

This was Alex's first real party. Okay, so there were only two kids present, but it was a party, with real friends. His friends, not just the children of MY friends. And the girls who couldn't make it? Well, rumor has it that they want to invite him over to their house to play. That would be another first for my son. Makes a mom almost want to cry.