Birthday party mayhem!

On Saturday Norah had a birthday party. It went as well as you would expect a one-year-old's birthday party to go. And yet we still had fun!

Luckily (?), it wasn't as populated as we thought it might be. We sent out invitations a while ago, and very few people responded to say they were coming or not. Kind of disappointing. Occasionally I am slow in responding to invitations, but I always do, because I don't want the hosts getting too much food and such. We had a good amount of food left over, but not a ton. It worked out okay, because there were kids at the party and not a lot of people, so Norah didn't get freaked out, which she might have if it had been better attended.

A woman Krys works with showed up with her two kids. One is two months older than Mia, and the other is 13 months. This kid looks like he's two-and-a-half. He's very tall and weighs 28 pounds. Plus, he's walking. I told Norah she better get going with the walking so she can start earning her keep around here!

A woman I used to work with showed up with her husband and son, who is 2. He also walked early - at about 10 months - so I had another chat with Norah (who, I'm pretty sure, failed to understand me). Jessica is very cool, and it was good to see her, because it had been a while. She works in special education, so it's always good to talk to her about what's going on in the field, because I have some interest in it, after all.

Mia enjoyed herself, as she usually does when lots of people are about. She is quite the ham. Norah also enjoyed herself, a bit less than Mia, I think, because she is still uncertain about people. She did like ripping the wrapping off her presents, but I wasn't sure why Krys and our guests even bought her any toys - her favorite toys are Mia's brush, Mia's AFO, the coasters, and the remote control. Who needs real toys when you have those?

We were surprised that she didn't like her cake that much. Krys bought a very good cake from a small family bakery near our house, but Norah wasn't that interested. Mia used to eat cake, but ever since she entered into her weird "I like nothing" phase (which has lasted longer than my patience, to be honest), she won't even try it. That's fine, I guess - cake isn't the healthiest of food. We were a bit stunned that Norah didn't like it, though. Again, I don't mind, but it was bizarre. We got her a separate cake to destroy, and she liked sinking her hand into it, but didn't like eating it. Oh well.

Norah also did not like the other children all that much. We want to put her in day care for a few days a week to get used to other children, because she is a bit freaked out by them. The 13-month-old was a bit of a bully, and he kept taking things away from her. One thing you don't do is take things away from Norah! She didn't do anything, just got all pouty and screamed. I don't blame her - that was her toy! - but she has to get used to other kids, we think, so we're still mulling over the day care option. It's kind of spendy, so we may just skip it.

All in all, it was a fun day. The kids enjoyed themselves, they slept well because they were worn out, and although a lot of people missed it, we enjoyed hanging out with the people who did show up. I think birthday parties for one-year-olds are rather dumb, but nothing traumatic happened to ruin everything, so let's call it a success. Next up: Mia's fourth birthday in August!