Birthday

Alyce's 5th birthday was quite some time ago. Sadly it's taken too long to get around to writing a post about it. Alyce's birthday was really more a birthday week than a birthday day. We did a little celebration on the actual day, next we had a family birthday party at our house, and finally we had a kid birthday party at McDonald's. It makes me tired just thinking back on it all.

The actual birthday was a simple affair after Alyce's dance class. We had cake and ice cream and a few presents. We didn't really need this night but Alyce had been focused on the day so much we didn't want it to be a fizzle. I think it was enough to keep her from being letdown.

The second birthday was the big birthday party where she got the big present from us. This party, held at our house, was for the family. We had grandparents from both sides plus aunts, uncles, and friends of the family. We had lasagna with sides, cake, and ice cream. Presents galore too! The big hit of the party was our gift to Alyce, a new bike! Looking at those pictures of her riding around the cul-de-sac on her old bike we knew she needed something more size appropriate. The bike is princess themed and purple. It has a snap in carriage on the handle bars were she can sit her stuffed animals. The night of the party and the next day we allowed her to ride her bike in the house. We knew we were asking for trouble by allowing bikes in the house but surprisingly enough she didn't hit a thing. With training wheels Alyce is a remarkably good driver. Once we brought the bike outside and got the tires dirty it was to never be back in the house.

The third and final party the friends McDonald's party was a huge success. We originally wanted to have the party at Monkey Joe's but thought it too expensive for what you got. So for a third of the price we held it at McDonald's. I had a McDonald's birthday party as a kid and had a great time. I figured Alyce would enjoy it too. I was right.

We invited all the kids we knew to the party. All of our friend's kids were in attendance including Madison from the neighborhood and Maya a friend of Alyce's from school. Another girl from her school, Ellie, had to cancel before the party. Before the party got underway it was pandemonium on the playground. The playground was a two story high affair with lots of tunnels an slides. Alyce, Maya, and Madison were a roving band of girls. Luke and Gideon were inseparable.



Happy meals were provided, as well as cake and ice cream. The chicken nuggets and milk were consumed quickly so the kids could get back to playing. Cake and ice cream was somewhat abbreviated as most of the kids wanted to keep playing. Present opening, well the girls in attendance wanted to see what Alyce got. Everyone else was running rampant.

Everyone had a great time at the party and I would recommend having a party there to anyone. For the next few days that party was all Alyce would talk about. Hearing from a few friends it sounds like the party was all their kids would talk about as well.

Mission Accomplished.

Duplicates

This weekend Alyce had her big McDonald's birthday party. I'll be writing about that soon. This was the first party for her where we didn't know what she was getting ahead of time. So we needed to talk to her about how to handle duplicate presents or presents she didn't like.

The night before while putting Alyce to bed I talked about how if she gets two of the same present or gets a present of something she already has to say thank you and not mention you already had it. I went on to say that we could exchange it later for a different toy. I think she understood the thank you part but the exchange seemed to confuse her. She kept saying she would have two of the same toy but in different colors. I left it at that having done the best I could at getting my newly minted 5 year old to be gracious when receiving a gift.

I didn't tell Mom that I had the conversation with Alyce. It didn't come up. Well the next morning Mom gets up with Alyce and proceeds to have the same conversation. Alyce pipes up and says "Mooom, Dad already talked about this to me". Well apparently Alyce is turning 15 instead of 5 as she's got it all figured out.

When we opened presents at her party Alyce did get a duplicate present. Luckily the duplicate was sitting at home as it was a gift from one of her classmates that had to cancel. Alyce did a great job with her gift; possibly better than Mom or myself. When we saw a duplicate we turned and looked at each other with a look of horror on our face. Alyce said thank you like she was supposed to and then showed her friend how to use it. It wasn't a perfect reaction but I think it is better than one would expect from a 5 year old.

Birthday Party

Saturday Alyce attended a birthday party for at Bounce U.  This is the same Bounce U she's attended in the past for other birthday parties.  This time it was for her classmate Mckenna.  We were 5 minutes late getting her there because of swimming lessons and haircuts.  When we finally showed up Alyce melded into the crowd like an old pro at Bounce U.

It was very funny to see how a few months can make a difference in a set of children.  When we had our first party there last October most of the kids were a little cautious with all of the equipment and each other.  Now, 5 months later they are running around like they own the place.  Alyce first ripped her shoes off and put them in a cubby without me having to say anything.  Next she hit the big blowup slide grabbing a mat before making the trip up.  15 - 20 minutes later she figured out there was other stuff to do and took a few turns on the obstacle course and after that took a turn shooting foam balls at her classmates.



One classmate Alyce took a liking to is Shruti.  We've heard about Shruti in the past from Alyce and seeing Alyce in action with her showed that they were best friends.  They rode the slide together time and time again; lots of times they did it sharing the same mat or holding hands on the way down.  Shruti was also able to help Alyce get through a very sad moment.

The sad moment came at the end of our time in the bounce rooms just before we head some pizza, cake, and presents.  All of the kids sat on or around a set of stairs for a group picture.  Alyce was taking swings with a bat on a piece of equipment and was late to being put into position.  By the time she got there all of the spots on the steps had been taken and for some reason (lack of food) she wanted a top step.  She kept the water works under control until the pictures were finished but you could tell she wasn't happy and on the verge of tears.  I tried to calm her down but nothing was really working.  So rather than let her day be ruined I sprung into action.  I spoke to Shruti's mom and asked if I could use her daughter.  I put both her and Alyce on the top step where the pictures had just finished and took a few of just the two of them.  This must have been good enough as the tears had stopped and even a smiled shined through.  Later on in the room with the pizza and cake Alyce sat next to Shruti with disaster but a memory.

When Mckenna was opening presents we had our first instance of a birthday girl getting a duplicate present.  We had bought a copy of the newly released Disney movie Tangled for Mckenna and someone else did too.  And they opened that gift right before ours.  Mckenna did a good job opening up a duplicate and being very appreciative of Alyce for it.  Alyce didn't seemed to notice or if she did she didn't say anything to me about it.  I think Alyce was more interested in whether or not Mckenna would like the card Alyce made for her. I'll write about the card in another post, but Alyce made this card a while ago and on repeated occasions asked Mom or I whether Mckenna would like her card. Mckenna did seem to like her card and even read it aloud.

The last item of note about this party was that there weren't any goodie bags.  In all of the other parties we attended the host gave out bags of small toys and candy for the kids.  Alyce usually forgets about them 24 hours later but them not being there that day was noticed and Alyce was sad that there wasn't any.  I can't say I blame the hosts for not having them.  Hosting at a place like Bounce U can't be cheap and spending another $50 on stuff that will be thrown away a week later doesn't make economic sense; but kids aren't economists.  I don't think the lack of bags was that big of a deal but I thought it was interesting that she brought it up in the first place.