The Birthday Weekend--a Couple Weekends later..

Sorry...wrote the thing on time but it's taken me forever to get the pictures ready.

All day long Keahi informed every passing stranger that this was his first day as a 5 year old. The school security guard. Rushing parents. People walking their dogs. I think he may have canvased the entire block.

We didn't really do anything all that special on Friday. Besides the cupcakes at class which he told me were uber important, we just relaxed and I let him watch more shows than normal. After Iz got home we played at the school playground and ordered breakfast food as requested by the birthday boy from 5th Ave Diner (plus a cheddar jalapeno burger for the parents--sooooo yummy). At first Keahi insisted that I make the pancakes and he didn't want to go to the restaurant. But when I explained that it was the playground and restaurant or no playground with homemade pancakes, he quickly opted for ordering in. But made sure I still intended to make the all important whipped cream. Don't ask me why he's holding up onions in the pictures. He doesn't even like them.

Dinner was great and then came the mound of presents. I think my mom forgot that she'd already sent his birthday gifts along with his Christmas presents because she sent even more. Jarom kept pointing to boxes and asking, "Is this Jarom's?" Eventually, I ran around grabbing books and treats that popo had sent previously and putting them into one large box which he clutched tightly and repeated declared, "This is Jarom's!" Keahi was pretty good about letting Jarom help open his presents as well. Definitely the highlights were the Leapster game consol and the trumpet. We were pretty impressed that after a few minutes he was actually able to buzz mostly correctly. This is going to be fun. Loud. But fun. Our poor neighbors.

The next day continued the birthday celebration with a daddy-Keahi trip to the Brooklyn Children's Museum for the early paleontologist lab I signed him up for. He loved digging in the sand for "fossils" and came home with a dino imprint in some pseudo plaster of paris mixture--which still hasn't hardend properly, but smells "great" according to Keahi because of the coffee grounds. Later Keahi and I went to the park early to set up for his party. He was a great helper blowing up the balloons and drawing his name in bubble letters on the table paper covering. I'd figured since it was outside with plenty of room to run and right next to the biggest playground in the park we wouldn't need many games. The kids colored on the birthday table sign and ran about, screaming about super heroes and whatnot. I tried to organize a couple of relay games with limited success. The balloon race (holding it between your legs) was hysterical and they kept popping and we'd have to run in replacements. And then with static electricity one got stuck to a girl's backside and she did a little dog-and-tail routine trying to remove it. All while trying to win the race. The egg and spoon relay was more straight forward but the kids had lost their interest about halfway through and the last kid had noone running along side him. But he didn't seem to mind. I really wish I had pics or vids of these relays but Iz hadn't gotten back with the ice so I didn't have the camera. The pinata was a success in that everyone got to have a turn. But it took the aggressive batting of one of the dads to finally shower the kids in candy. I guess I should have followed the online instructions and used a paper bag instead. Nah. I think the dad would have been disappointed if he hadn't been able to take a swing at it.

Costco's sheet cake was surprisingly tasty and moist. Keahi had picked out a carrot cake with apricot mousse filling (and he giggle a lot about mousse and how funny it would be if you took out an S and had mouse filling) instead of the chocolate one with balloons that I was sure he'd want. And since I forgot to make the veggie platter, this cake provided us with both fruit and vegetables. Birthday style, anyway.

Afterward, we carted all of Keahi's new presents home and had another Christmas morning moment. Jarom and Keahi tore through all the purple tissue paper (was there a sale on purple gift wrappings I didn't know about) and got all ecstatic about the new games, cars, and action toys. We've already used the growing crystals kit from Sadie and we're watching it grow on our window sill. We've also used the tv microscope from Popo to look closely at the crystals forming as well as Keahi's hair and up daddy's nose. We've made a borax crystal snowflake and recorded our observations in Keahi's new journal. It's been a fun week.

Oh, and on Monday the present extravaganza continued with one of his friends giving him a late gift at school (some kind of Japanese cartoon card game with action figures that I'm never going to learn or teach Keahi how to play) and a box from popo and Kervin and Mary with battery operated Donald (which goes with the Douglass from Jack) and bathtime squeeze trains that have made bathtime equally more fun and more difficult to end. Wow, this really is the birthday that never ends. Yesterday was his first day not opening presents. And it'll be a while before he's read and played with everything he's gotten.

I think back to when we first moved to Grenada with our 4 books and 4 toys and how content Keahi was rotating through them all every single day. And then how joyful he was when he turned 2 and his book/toy count more than doubled. Now I can't even begin to count in my head all the toys and books they have and sometimes I think life was simpler with just the 4. But, don't get me wrong, we're all grateful for the generosity of our family and friends. Last year the only thing he requested besides a caterpillar birthday cake was homemade cards from his friends. How cool is it that this year Keahi received birthday cards in the mail (Aunty Robbie--just arrived, so cute!), by email (grandma and pa) and by text message (Uncle Kervin). What a lucky boy.

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