Birthday parties galore!

Ethan is nearly 4 years old. He is getting to the age where birthday parties become very, very cool. It actually started last year, when he turned 3. We decided to have a proper kid’s party. By that I mean a party where children are invited, not adults. And we had it at an indoor playground.

[A bit of background info: for my boys’ first birthdays we had what I call a parent’s party. One with lots of adults and a few token children. These parties are mostly for the parents’ benefit, to commemorate making it through a whole year of less sleep, endless washing, feeding, changing nappies and loss of a social life. Ethan’s second birthday was also a parent’s party, simply because he didn’t really have any real friends of his own. But by the time he turned 3, he had friends. Kids that HE chose to be friends with, as opposed to the children of adults that his mummy and daddy knew, who are practically forced to be friends because of their parents].

Ethan’s 3rd birthday was pretty cool, but I can see that this year birthday parties are going to be even better. Because now the friendships go both ways. And that’s a big deal.
On Saturday, Ethan went to Emily’s 3rd birthday party, which featured Andy the Magician. Then yesterday, he went to Cody’s 5th birthday party, which was at Monterery Park Railway and the theme was “Crazy Frog” …. you know, that annoying blue singing frog that kids just ADORE.
I will never forget the look on Ethan’s face when he came home from preschool a couple of weeks ago clutching his invitation to Cody’s party. He said “mummy, you don’t know what I have behind my back” and then flashed the picture of Crazy Frog in front of me. He was just about bubbling over with excitement. “It’s Cody’s birthday party!!” he cried, “and I’m going!”

Well, the parties were a hit!!
The magician at Emily's party was pretty impressive. He actually turned a balloon into a live bunny rabbit! I'm sure all the parents are still wondering how he managed that. He had the kids in fits of laughter, and they were all completely engaged in his hour-long show. I hate to think how much it cost to hire him, but he sure was entertaining!!
There were so many children at Emily's party (I counted 20, there could have been more), but they played together so well. Emily has lots of outdoor play equipment, and it was a beautiful day, so the kids played outside while the adults sat around chatting.

Rob took Ethan to Cody's party. Cody's brother Devon is just one day older than Ethan, and Ethan & Devon are practically joined at the hip. They ran around Monterey Park like little squirrels, being chased by their dads. Eventually Rob and Jeremy gave up running after them and just let them run around unsupervised! Tsk tsk. Anyway, the kids rode on the train and looked at the models and the classic car museum. A real boy's day out. Rob said Ethan had a great time, but he didn't want to play "pin the willy on the Crazy Frog" ... the mind boggles!

There was a pretty hilarious incident that Rob told us about when they got home. Apparently after Cody's Crazy Frog cake and party food had been put away, Rob found Ethan & Devon coming downstairs each holding a piece of cake. Ethan said "Look, Daddy! It was a Bob the Builder cake!" .... Rob was a bit puzzled at first, but then realised that the boys had wandered in on another birthday party and had waited in line for some cake, which an unwitting adult had cut for them!!! We had such fun asking Ethan "Whose birthday was it?" and him saying "I don't know! But not Cody's!!!" and then cracking up laughing :-)

You know what? Even with all that sugar (oh, the sugar) and hype and excitement, Ethan was a really good boy this weekend. He did me proud!