Today was the culmination of the three-day Zoeypalooza 2005 festival honoring Zoey's third birthday: her official birthday party. As I stated in an earlier post, we held it at a place with a bunch of inflatable jumping thingies. Counting Zoey and Zed, there were twenty children at the party, all under the age of four. Yes, we're insane. Thanks for asking.
And because I sometimes feel the need to feed my inner statistician, here are the breakdowns of the kids at the party by age and relationship to Zoey:
Breakdown By Age
6 to 11 months -- 2
12 to 23 months -- 3
24 to 35 months -- 6
36 to 47 months -- 9
Breakdown By Relationship To Zoey
Relatives of Zoey* -- 3
Preschool friends -- 6
Gym class friends -- 2
Long distance friends** -- 8
Neighborhood friends*** -- 1
*Consists of Zoey, Zed, and their cousin.
**There are the kids Zoey rarely sees, the children of our friends. She only sees these kids at birthday parties, baptisms, vacations, and the occasional dinner.
***We invited her buddy Elmo, the co-creator of Extreme Wiffle Ball. Last year for Zoey's birthday, we invited all the kids from the neighborhood (six additional kids, now aged five to eight) because we held it in our backyard. This year, because the kids would be jumping in such close proximity of one another, we didn't invite any child four years of age or older. Sorry. I realize this holds no possible entertainment value for you, I'm just trying to make myself feel better for dissin' my 'hood.
See? It's not like we were just going up to people off the street and inviting them to her party.
Anyway...
While the kids were jumping all over the place, I went around from parent to parent, chatting and making sure everyone was having a good time, while watching Zoey and tending to Zed every so often. I was wreaked with guilt the whole time because I didn't feel that I spent enough time with the parents of the guests or with my own daughter. Yes, I realize there's something wrong with me if I'm overcome with guilt at my daughter's birthday party.
After ninety minutes, the party was moved into the "cake and presents" area. Ella and I didn't have this nice of a cake at our wedding. It was a three-tier cake made to look like a castle with Dora and Boots figurines sitting on top. It was amazing. A lot of the parents came up to me wanting to know where we got it. Remember, lady, next year's cake is free.
We lit the candles and turned out the lights. Zoey blew out the candles, the lights went up, and everyone started singing Happy Birthday. Zed immediately began screaming. I don't know what it is about that song that sets off something in my children. But he was upset for the rest of the party.
We gave all the kids cake and Zoey began opening her presents. The whole time I'm staring at the clock because for every ten minutes you go over your allotted time (you're allowed thirty minutes in this room), you're charged an additional fifty bucks. Fifteen minutes ago, I was feeling guilty for not talking to these people more. Now, I'm trying to push them out the door.
All in all, it was a great party (despite my neuroses). Kids and parents alike had a great time. In fact, one of my friends came up to me at the end and said, "Thanks for ruining birthday parties for the rest of us."
