A Birthday Block Party

Not-so-little Hesperos finally celebrated his first birthday with family in attendance this past weekend. The delay was partially due to various events, visitors, and family being away ... and partially due to Mommy's inability to get the invitations out in a timely fashion. But, as Aunt Magda has said before, late birthdays just mean longer celebrations, so it was all good.


The theme for Hesperos' special day was a "block" party, where "block" was done up in baby block letters. Since Hesperos' nickname is "monkey," a little monkey graced the inside of the invitation for good measure. Besides, who can be against a little gratuitous clip-art? Certainly not Mommy.





In keeping with the baby theme, party favors for the guests included candles made by Mommy using Hesperos' old (and thoroughly cleaned) baby food jars. We figure this was recycling at it's best, plus it's always fun to send other people's children home with implements that can be used for unattended flames. (Maybe we should've included a business card for a home insurance agent, just in case.)




Unfortunately, Hesperos was feeling a bit under the weather with yet another chest cold so he wasn't at his cheerful best. He did have a great time with the many balloons, though, enjoying batting them away (which made him laugh) just so they could hit something and bounce back hitting his face (which made him laugh).





Not to be forgotten during this happy event were the other guests. Cousin Jasmine rapidly got on a first-name level of intimacy with the black olives (I hope they traded first names ... that is standard courtesy, I believe, before you stick your fingers in dark spaces) and Helios managed to rope another victim...I mean, relative...into reading him stories. This time around, it was recently relocated Aunt Elspeth who had the dubious pleasure of reading story-after-story to Helios about none other than trains...sometimes about The Little Engine that Could, sometimes about Thomas and the Big, Big Bridge, and sometimes about Thomas and the Crack in the Track. The one constant was, naturally, the train.


Then it was cake time. Mommy tried to keep with the block theme by making a cake shaped into a cube and decorating it accordingly, but realized that it was entirely outside of her first-time-frosting capabilities. So, Mommy tried to explain it away by saying that good cakes are all about taste rather than appearance (let's just forget the whole maxim about how people eat first with their eyes). Regardless, Hesperos was not feeling well so he declined both the "best-ever chocolate pound cake" and "Italian wedding cream cake", instead preferring graham crackers. Harrumph.




Being that it was his first birthday, Hesperos didn't quite have down the concept of blowing out his own candles. Fortunately, there was a gaggle of other children around who were thoroughly capable of sloppily blowing saliva-speckled puffs of air instead, so the candle did get blown out. Hesperos giggled regardless, none the worse for not having blown it out himself.



Afterward, gifts were opened to relative peace with minimal blood being spilt over who got to open what and when.



No ice packs were needed and no band-aids were issued. Hesperos had some cold medicine and went to sleep early, along with Helios who apparently was conked out due to no nap and all that story-reading. That's what we call a successful birthday.

One Isn't a Lonely Number Here!

July marks Hesperos' first birthday, and yes, the time really does fly! It really doesn't seem like it was that long ago he was the tiny, little six-pound swaddled bundle we brought home from the hospital. Yet, it simultaneously feels like he has always been the size and age that he is now. That must be how it is with time -- it all proceeds so gradually that one is never aware of changes until looking back over a large chunk of time.

Hesperos was thrilled to have for his birthday a special visitor. No, not a clown or magician, although she is capable of making people laugh, doing some tricks, and there may be some unusually large red shoes in her closet. Daddy Jane made an appearance for the entire week, ostensibly to celebrate the boys' birthdays, but we really suspect it was because she didn't have anyone else to play trains with. (The quilt show 150 miles away might've been small incentive, too.)

To celebrate Hesperos' first of many, we had a very low-key celebration with Daddy Jane that consisting of opening gifts, eating wrapping paper, and then visiting the local theatre to see Ratatouille. Let me tell you, after a dinner of milk, sweet potatoes, apple-raspberry sauce, and coated wrapping paper, little rat Chef Remy had absolutely nothing to offer Hesperos in terms of dining excitement.

Hesperos received some tasty books from his Uncle Scooter and uncle's girlfriend, Mavis, which have been enjoyed greatly by both children. Daddy Jane and Grandpa Mel, and Mommy and Daddy tried to give Hesperos the experience of having his own trains to play with by giving him a pint-sized zoo train. It was a great idea in concept, but probably all in vain since the train was rapidly confiscated by big brother Helios who insisted that he was "just checking it to make sure it works!" (Uh-hunh.)

In a couple of weeks, there'll be a real birthday party to prolong the fun and to celebrate with the rest of the family on a non-weeknight. In the meanwhile, Hesperos can continue to munch like the Very Hungry Caterpillar and the Grouchy Ladybug (two of the books he received) while he waits for Helios the Train Inspector to conclude his investigation and hand over the goods for some playtime fun.