Category Archives: birthday

December 6, 2011 · 3:21 pm

About Me

“You have to share the mommy.”

What’s a Mama to do with such a line except publish it?  This is what Dylan said on Sunday night when he, Riley and I sat on the couch after their bath.  The boys were fighting for my attention when Dylan said, “You have to share the mommy.”  It made me giggle (and immediately want to update my Facebook status).  It made Dylan and Riley giggle, too.  I think Riley laughed because Dylan and I did, but Dylan laughed because he knew he said something clever.

I’ve heard that five is a transformative year for kids.  Dylan is at the cusp, and I can already see big changes.  He’s becoming a little person who understands nuance (a little bit), knows how to tell a joke and doesn’t mind letting his brother win every once in a while because it’s okay to not always win.  He says please and thank you a lot more often than he used to, he brushes his teeth without afight, and he actually cleans up his toys…sometimes.  Yesterday, Dylan and I shared a good laugh when Riley told us about “mad boys” and “mean little guys” at school, and last night, Dylan shared a bowl of pretzel sticks with me. 

Do these grown-up gestures mean he’ll soon get himself up on Saturday mornings and toast his own waffle? And change his brother’s poopy morning diaper, or better yet, potty train him for me?   I suppose I shouldn’t rush him.  Before I know it he’ll be riding his bike to school by himself, playing in his room with the door closed, and asking for a ride to the mall, and I’ll have to stop to catch my breath.  

In any case, a blog reader reminded me that since today is Dylan’s fifth birthday, I have to update the “About Me” section on my blog:

I’m a stay at home mom of two beautiful boys, Dylan (5!) and Riley (2). Motherhood agrees with me.  In fact, it’s one of the few things I’ve done in my life of which I’m absolutely certain. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else except home raising my boys, but like the little bunny in Margaret Wise Brown’s classic book, I sometimes want to run away.

Happy 5th birthday, Dylan.  Have a carrot.

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Filed under birthday, motherhood

December 5, 2011 · 12:42 pm

Big

On Saturday night, we hosted Dylan’s 5th birthday party at our house. We did a drive-in movie theme and rented an outdoor movie screen to watch “Cars 2” (of course) in our back yard.  Everything about the party was big.

The cake was big.


The crowd was big.


The balloon was big.


The pile of presents was big.


And the movie screen…It. Was. Big.


The guy from the movie screen company arrived at our house an hour before the party was scheduled to start. We had ordered the smallest outdoor screen for our party (16x16x16 feet, which is not small by any means) and the guy said, “If you want, I can upgrade you to the 24x24x24 foot screen.  Your yard is big enough.”  I said, “You don’t think that’s too big?”  He said with a little bit of arrogance, “It will be impressive.”  I was inclined to say, “No thank you.”  It sounded too big and it also cost an extra $30, but Mike wanted to do it. Apparently men like everything to be big. I’m sure you can predict the ending of this story.  We went with the bigger screen.

As impressive as the screen was, the biggest part of the night happened at the very end.  The boys were exhausted after the party ended. Riley, who we referred to as the birthday party best man, fell asleep on the couch watching “Wonder Pets” while Mike an dI cleaned up.  For me, there is nothing more tender than putting a sleeping child to bed.  We changed Riley’s diaper and put on his pajamas, and he never even opened his eyes (or brushed his teeth).  It was a gift (except for the not brushing his teeth part).

Dylan was lucid until the very end.  Even though he started melting down from exhaustion, Mike and I had the chance to quietly sing happy birthday to him and tell him how special he was, how happy we were that he had fun at his party and how much we loved him (and that, yes, he could open all of his presents in the morning).  Even with the hoopla and excitement of the party, the best part of the night, without a doubt, was seeing the sleepy joy on Dylan’s face as he drifted into a dream after such a Big day.  

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Filed under birthday, Cars