Barnabas Monkeypants

Back for more birthday party notes.

There were 5 small children at the party. (Henry, Talia [a.k.a., girlfriend #2], Tallen, and Austin were there for the first few hours, and then, after everyone left, Zoe [a.k.a, girlfriend #3] and her parents arrived. She had a late nap. Girlfriend #1 was on vacation and couldn’t make it; her absence was felt by all.]

They ranged in age from nearly one  to two and a half, but it was really interesting how each showed different traits and talents. Talia, a week younger than Henry, was tooling around the apartment, fearless. But she was very shy (I had to coax even the tiniest smile out of her). Austin has yet to walk, but he climbs on everything, pulling himself up on tables and chairs (I think he’s part monkey; the good part). Tallen, also pretty shy, was smart in that he has found out that his big brown eyes can make anyone do anything for him, and he put them to good use. Zoe, the eldest, has a vocabulary that you or I would be envious of, but, by her parents’ own admission, really isn’t into anything physical. And Henry, not walking at all and really not that into climbing, instead seemed to be the most “people” person, interacting with all the guests.

I’ve mentioned this before, but although I knew that babies all developed at different rates, I didn’t know that it would be so noticeable. And I don’t know what this means, of if it means anything at all.

Just an observation.

(Of course, Henry’s the cutest of all the kids. But we knew that. Ahem.)

Henry ate a lot of cake, but I didn’t realize how much cake until I talked with some people after the party. It seems that most one-year-olds do a lot of mashing and finger licking and leave the cake in a heap in front of them. And while that certainly happened, Henry did eat a lot. He was double fisting the baked good; he couldn’t shove it in his mouth fast enough.

If I were crass, I’d mention the gigantic bowel movement he had the next morning, but I won’t. (It was huge.)

Another strange thing about the party was that, in all the various manic preparations we did that morning, Kristen never actually left our condo. Not even out the front or back door. I had to go get ice and soda and the cake, ran up and down the stairs with the hot dogs, took out the trash, got more ice, etc., but Kristen concentrated on tidying up, putting out the snacks,  and, most importantly, filling up 43 balloons with helium.

Did you know you could buy a disposable helium tank for just such an occasion? I didn’t. But our living room was full of multi-colored balloons (nearly emptied by the end of the party as guests took some home with them), and both Henry and the cats were in heaven. I think we’re going to need to buy another one of these tanks again — for no reason, really.

I’m sure there are other things that I’m missing, but I’ll stop here. Henry had a terrific time, got some great presents, ate some tasty cake, and was smothered in hugs and kisses.

All in all, what anyone could possibly want on their birthday.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Barnabas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.