Day 278: It’s all prep work at this point….

We (Will, Gabrielle, Kelly and me, Lara) are all up at 3 AM preparing for a four year old’s birthday party. A four year old who, I’m sure, would agree with Claire’s assessments that “peasants” (to her, “pwesents” around here) are, in fact, very important. How important they are to people of this age is actually a detail that horrified all the adults when he first took to ripping paper off pwesents with no real sense of gratitude or occasion. This display of childlike life-lust and greed was a shock to all our “dult” senses of what is proper and appropriate. He has been trained to be better and more grateful; but only slightly.

“He” in this case is my nephew, Bobo aka John, who has his first “kid” birthday party tomorrow morning (well, really, in a few hours since I am a bad editor with late deadlines).



It is called a “kid” party, but at this age (namely, FOUR) you usually get two adults for every kid at the party, so the term is a bit off. It is odd to realize that you have to mix statements like “stop poking Grace in the eye” and crafts with adult conversation. As a mere twenty-something, I do not need to really worry about this, however, as without a brat attached to my hip, I can still pass as someone who belongs at the kid table. And I do.

But that is all a ways off…there are the makings of a “twain” cake in the kitchen, there are presents wrapped in the various closets, but the details come together tomorrow. The number of activities one can fit into a two hour period of ten four year olds is actually quite shocking. We will have musical chairs, pass the pwesent, and a craft project in addition to cake and eats. It’s all quite impressive, actually, and I am amazed at the ambition of all these birthday-throwing mothers.

In the interest of pulling all these pieces together, Kelly and I must abduct Bobo and sister Gwacie to Music Together! Class tomorrow. A class in which children are allowed to be too loud and a very tolerant, but also probably (hopefully?) medicated, woman tries to teach them about rhythm and things like half and quarter notes that most of the parents also cannot master. Such a class is where the pic below came from, as for some reason that I do not understand scarves are an important part of music.



But that is six hours away, and I have much editing to do and no desire to be the aunt in the corner with the coffee, scowl and sunglasses while surrounded by fit and joyous suburban mothers drunk on the cuteness of their musical children. But do not get me wrong; Music Together class is by far one of the more entertaining things I’ve ever seen. Seriously.