Happy October!

Yikes! It’s been a long time since I posted, and so much has happened! Prepare yourself for…*cue theme song*…another long post. (I’m actually not sure if it should be a sci-fi type theme song or game show type. I’m in kind of a game show-y mood.)

SO! Gavi’s first birthday party was an absolute HOOT! We enjoyed it so much, and appreciated everyone who took the time to be there. Especially all those who made the drive from Denver to Loveland. I was trying to make it easier for my Loveland, Ft. Collins, Greeley peeps, but the Denver-ites outnumbered them greatly. Poo on northerners who didn’t come.

I didn’t mean that.

Anyway, the pictures have been up forever. What’s up with Jonathan getting pictures uploaded before I get the commentary!? What a fabulous change of events! Anyway, it was a lot of fun. For me, the best part was having everything ready a full hour before the party started so that I didn’t have to stress up to the last minute. It truly gave me an easier time than I usually have at “events.”

Rabbit trail: Even getting to church or MOPS counts as an event because there’s a time table. Regardless of how on top of things I am, or how many lists I’ve looked at to be prepared, it always comes down to TOTAL STRESS at the last minute to get out the door. Maybe someone has undressed, maybe someone has a poopy diaper, maybe the perfect outfit I’ve dressed them in has been ruined by the “asphalt” they’re smoothing in the backyard. Caleb finds old pieces of charcoal in the grill and scrapes them on the pavement to build a road. Dang you, Bob the Builder, and the number of outfits I’ve had to change because of your teachings! Anyway, we always end up rushing in the minutes before our departures…

Back to the party: SO many people came to help us celebrate that I would probably deem it one of my favorite parties ever. Plus, it was in my parents’ backyard, which is one of my favorite places in the world. My mom baked a Winnie the Pooh cake and decorated it so beautifully that I wanted to eat the whole thing myself. But she also made chocolate cupcakes with Pooh orange frosting layered tall, so I snitched a few of those instead. We also had Pooh balloons, napkins and plates decorating the table, and the second centerpiece was the Pooh piñata that I filled so full of candy that the 30-some attendees would later be unable to claim the entirety. It was beautiful. There’s actually not a picture of the table online. Jonny said he’s struggling with a new program that is selectively and randomly removing pictures. But we’ll get one put up. All Grandma’s work should be available for the world to see!

We started the games with Pin the Tail on the Donkey. A couple of the tiniest kids didn’t participate, but I helped Gavi try it, and he did terribly. (Sorry, kid, I just won’t cheat for you. And if I WAS willing to cheat, I would do it like I do it for myself: Cheat to lose so no one else feels bad.) It was won by the biggest kiddo there, no surprise, but I had spun him around a few times, so I feel it was a legitimate victory. Go, Chance!

After that, we were scheduled to have cake. I had planned out the party. Seriously, I made an itinerary. The party was supposed to last ONE HOUR so that people could leave, or stay and play or whatever. It was timed perfectly. Until the last guests didn’t even show up until fifteen minutes before the party was supposed to be over. What was that quote about the best laid plans of mice and delusional moms?

The cake was possibly my favorite part! Gavi put on an AWESOME show! He put his hand in it immediately after we removed the candle, and chowed down. Soon, his hand wasn’t getting to his mouth quickly enough, so he put his face directly into the cake and started hoovering it. It was masterful! After Caleb had been so delicate with his first cake, I was glad to see a one year old with the same instincts his momma has!

We ended up giving him a bath in the sink before serving everybody else cake. That’s a cute picture, trust me! (Maybe I’ll figure out how to link to it so you don’t have to trust me.) Everyone enjoyed the cake. I got a tee-niny piece that I was not pleased about, but having plans to eat more cupcakes later in the day, I withheld my objections to its size. Everyone enjoyed it, then it was on to gifts.

Oops, I just went back to check the pictures, and it appears we did gifts before the cake. My faulty memory obviously needs to get these things written BEFORE two weeks have passed! So the gifts were a little bit weird. I actually didn’t open presents at Caleb’s birthday party, and got a lot of grief over it. Apparently that’s rude. So I made sure to put gift opening time in my schedule. But I was so stricken by the fact that we weren’t FOLLOWING that schedule that it was the only time I felt really frazzled the whole time. So to anyone who thought I wasn’t particularly good at opening the presents, I would offer this: YOU GUYS ROCK! Gavi got the most fun presents ever, and we’ve still got a couple that I’m holding back as potential objects of bribery. For Caleb. It’s not as terrible as it sounds, I just tell him he can’t play with Gavi’s super cool book/basketball/baseball/cars/blocks/wagon/etc until he’s got his other toys picked up or unless he shares HIS toys. Don’t knock it – it works.

Then the cake. Then the piñata! My dad hung it from the big tree, and was able to raise or lower it based on the size of the child hitting it. Every kid got to hit it three times before I deemed it time to go to the next. Once we’d cycled through all the kids, Jonny Fashbaugh stepped up. I blindfolded him, spun him around, and then Grandpa Gene messed with him, raising and lowering it for a good five minutes before allowing him to crack it open. Kids had so much fun! My mom brought out Ziploc bags for everybody. And after taking the cracked head of Winnie the Pooh around the party TWICE, I still hadn’t foisted all the candy off on people. A hoot, I tell you!

So! Since then, we’ve turned his carseat to be front-facing, taken him from bottles to cups, from formula to milk, from milk to soymilk, and made many other changes that signify that he is a toddler rather than a baby. The biggest thing is that he now only gets a cup of milk after meals, rather than four to six times throughout the day. He was opposed to that change. Vocally opposed. Loudly vocally opposed.

Caleb’s talking is just becoming unreal! Every day I’m impressed anew. And it’s funny when you can understand his train of thought even when he’s using words oddly. My favorite right now is when we get up in the morning – at FIVE! – and I ask him to go with me in the kitchen to start getting breakfast ready. When I’m right behind him, he’s fine. But if I get distracted and don’t go right away, he’s reluctant. One morning I asked him if he was scared because there were no lights. He said, “I’m not scared. But there’s dark all over the hallway!” It was fantastic!

On Gavi’s actual birthday, my old friend Hilarie was in town with her son. He’s just a little older than Gavi, so we decided to get together and take all these fun little boys to the zoo. The Grandmas joined us! I’ve come to discover that the zoo is fun all the time, but it’s most fun when we have friends with us. It was probably one of my favorite visits! Of course, it’s always fun to share our zoo knowledge with people who don’t get to go as often as we do! And I’m always up for anything that involves spending time with friends and eating out at Chilis! We took the boys on the train AND the carousel, the kind of splurge reserved for trips with other people. And we made a pretty good dent in the place – when just the three of us go, we limit our travels to certain sections or routes. Since these guys hadn’t been to the zoo in years, we covered a lot of ground. Anyone who EVER wants to go to the zoo, please call me so we can play! And Hil, I'll cover your next visit if you promise we can get another pic on the carousel where I DON'T look like a drunken slob.

Okay, I’ve rambled enough. And Gavi is vocally opposing loudly the lack of milk in his world. He’s a biter, too. I’m reluctant to bite him back as so many have suggested. But his frustration in teething and hunger generally lead to teeth marks on my bod. My frustration then leads to yet another diet coke…