But I'll get to the party in a moment because, as we were going through the pictures of the party last night, I found some Play-Doh pictures that I took earlier last week with the intention of posting them, but then I forgot. So I'll deal with those first.
While Gabe and I were playing with his Doh, he struck upon the idea of creating an army. His notion of "army" is still a little fuzzy, though (and he still isn't clear because he had me repeat the process today), as he refers to each soldier I create as "army." Thus, when I created each of his little men, he said, "Make another army, please," as he took the new recruit and lined him up.
Not entirely excited about the prospects of my three year old plotting war strategies already, I convinced him, instead, to line up each of his little men (and, later, creatures) into a queue to eat some of the birthday cake I'd made out of Play-Doh a little earlier.
Gabe learns a valuable lesson about queuing. The "birthday cake" in the little plate at the head of the queue looks, pretty much, exactly like the birthday cake on his plate at his birthday party ended up as he tore it apart to eat all the frosting off it.But that's about all I have to say about that. Gabe's showing an interest in forming an army. Probably that's something else I should keep an eye on.
Oh yeah! Speaking of things to keep an eye on, Gabe offered to "fight" both Libby and I in the past couple of days when we've told him to do something he didn't want to. He didn't seem to have much of a concept of what was involved in the fighting, and we had some pretty stern words about the matter, but there it is. I think the next time he offers I will take a moment to explain the concept of "choosing your battles" and the very relevant concept of not picking a fight with someone who weighs about five times what you do. Maybe that will clear things up a little for him.
On to the party. I'm not thinking that I want to relive this particular event just yet, so how about I just select some of the best pictures and fill in what blanks I can, minus the running commentary.
After letting the kids get a taste of the messes that awaited them (and a little mingling by the parents), we opened presents. Norah went first. Mostly the rest of the other girls did the work for her. She got WAY more crap than any one year old should ever get.
Then it was Gabe's turn. Last Christmas was the first time that he truly grasped the concept of opening presents, so he went at it with gusto this go-round. Again WAY more crap than any three year old should ever get (we're going to have to closet some toys or start giving them away because our house has officially reached critical mass).
Because she still refuses to sleep when we want her to, Norah was SUPER cranky all day thanks to a napless afternoon. When she wasn't the center of attention, she was a crabby little stinker. Until she fell asleep on Liz's lap. Then she took just enough of a nap to keep her awake but cranky until bed time.
Norah's cake. Gabe had one too, but it wasn't as "special" as this one. Notice the smiley face on it. I added the name and the face. Note the terrible job I did. I'm guessing I won't be invited to compete in any cake-based reality challenge programs any time soon. Good thing she's too young to remember.
Before we ate cake and ice cream, we set the kids loose on the sprinklers (it was a balmy low 90s yesterday, so it was the perfect weather for it). We forgot to cinch up Gabe's swimsuit, so he was looking pretty "gangsta" (which, from what I gather, roughly translates as "someone who is proud of plumber's crack") throughout the afternoon.
Gabe ate three pieces of cake. In less than five minutes. And he's been a little ticked a couple times today to find out that all of his cake got eaten. I think he was looking forward to the cake more than the presents, even.
The obligatory picture of a child feeding cake to him/herself on her first birthday. Because she was passed out when we did the cake and ice cream, we actually forgot about this for awhile, but still had a piece left over, so, before bath time, we let her at it. Gabe wasn't impressed by his cake when he turned one. But Gabe didn't like his food like Norah does. She snarfed it all down.
And, finally, one of those pictures that my child will hate me for eventually. Awesome.
Oh yeah! Speaking of things to keep an eye on, Gabe offered to "fight" both Libby and I in the past couple of days when we've told him to do something he didn't want to. He didn't seem to have much of a concept of what was involved in the fighting, and we had some pretty stern words about the matter, but there it is. I think the next time he offers I will take a moment to explain the concept of "choosing your battles" and the very relevant concept of not picking a fight with someone who weighs about five times what you do. Maybe that will clear things up a little for him.
On to the party. I'm not thinking that I want to relive this particular event just yet, so how about I just select some of the best pictures and fill in what blanks I can, minus the running commentary.
After letting the kids get a taste of the messes that awaited them (and a little mingling by the parents), we opened presents. Norah went first. Mostly the rest of the other girls did the work for her. She got WAY more crap than any one year old should ever get.
Then it was Gabe's turn. Last Christmas was the first time that he truly grasped the concept of opening presents, so he went at it with gusto this go-round. Again WAY more crap than any three year old should ever get (we're going to have to closet some toys or start giving them away because our house has officially reached critical mass).
Because she still refuses to sleep when we want her to, Norah was SUPER cranky all day thanks to a napless afternoon. When she wasn't the center of attention, she was a crabby little stinker. Until she fell asleep on Liz's lap. Then she took just enough of a nap to keep her awake but cranky until bed time.
Norah's cake. Gabe had one too, but it wasn't as "special" as this one. Notice the smiley face on it. I added the name and the face. Note the terrible job I did. I'm guessing I won't be invited to compete in any cake-based reality challenge programs any time soon. Good thing she's too young to remember.
Before we ate cake and ice cream, we set the kids loose on the sprinklers (it was a balmy low 90s yesterday, so it was the perfect weather for it). We forgot to cinch up Gabe's swimsuit, so he was looking pretty "gangsta" (which, from what I gather, roughly translates as "someone who is proud of plumber's crack") throughout the afternoon.
Gabe ate three pieces of cake. In less than five minutes. And he's been a little ticked a couple times today to find out that all of his cake got eaten. I think he was looking forward to the cake more than the presents, even.
The obligatory picture of a child feeding cake to him/herself on her first birthday. Because she was passed out when we did the cake and ice cream, we actually forgot about this for awhile, but still had a piece left over, so, before bath time, we let her at it. Gabe wasn't impressed by his cake when he turned one. But Gabe didn't like his food like Norah does. She snarfed it all down.
And, finally, one of those pictures that my child will hate me for eventually. Awesome.The kids, blowing bubbles. An art they haven't quite mastered yet.
Gabe with the T-Ball set that Uncle Jebes got him. Shortly after the video, he started smacking the ball pretty consistently. Since he's showing no proclivity for throwing or catching, but he's pretty good at hitting, my guess is that he's got a successful career as a designated hitter ahead of him.
And that's that. We got a little video of Norah eating her cake, but, really, she did it with such skill and relative grace that it didn't make for a terribly interesting video (plus, Blogger is playing silly buggers with the video again today, and I'm not even sure if these first two videos will post, so I'm done messing with it).
It would seem that with Gabe's ability to switch hit, I suspect that he could already get a job with the Royals. At the very least I see a future with Gabe playing baseball at Newman. He is a legacy at Newman after all, so he has to go there.
ReplyDeleteBen