(Or more precisely, tonight, at 12:35. Which is technically tomorrow, but I have trouble counting anything before about 4am as the next day.) Five years ago right now, as I type this, I was sitting in a room in the maternity ward (of a hospital building that is no longer even standing) signing paperwork and getting an IV started for my pitocin drip.
Five.
The festivities started yesterday, in fact -- Ray can't come to Penny's birthday party (alas... as none of her classmates have RSVP'ed yet, either, it may turn out to be a very small party) -- they had us come over yesterday so Penny could open her birthday present from him early.
The card talks -- when you open it, Spider-Man says, "Happy birthday, superhero!" and there's the sound of a cheering crowd. Penny was entranced. And Ray gave her a Spider-Man toy (with a suction-cup web!) and some Play-Doh.
Ray had never played with Play-Doh before (Melissa has carpet in her dining room, so I can't blame her) so we had Ray come over to our house so Penny could show him what it was all about. They played with the Play-Doh for all of about ten minutes, and then ran off to make other messes. (Though to be fair, they did a pretty good job cleaning up the Play-Doh when they were done.)
Tonight is the CHKD Back-To-School Carnival here on the Peninsula. We have to attend one of four sessions to pick up her medical paperwork for school (a parent has to sign it, so you have to pick it up in person), and this one sounded both the most convenient and the most fun. And conveniently timed right before Penny's birthday. I'll pick her up a little early from school (leaving Alex for Matt to collect at the usual time) and take her down to the carnival. After we pick up her paperwork, the flyer promised activities and games with prizes, and I told Penny I'd take her to her favorite restaurant (Chik-fil-A) for dinner.
And on our way home, I'll stop at the Ukrops and let her help me pick out cupcakes for her to take to school tomorrow for her class. (Stupid school regulations require store-made cupcakes rather than homemade.)
And after she's in bed, I'll get the bike out of the trunk of my car and Matt and I will see if it's really "easy to assemble!" like the box promises. And we'll decide where to stash it for the unveiling tomorrow morning.
(Why yes, today is going to be pretty darned busy.)
Then Thursday or Friday evening, I'll let her help me make the cupcakes for her official party -- she picked out the cake and icing and sprinkles at the grocery store yesterday.
And Saturday is the party itself. Penny only wanted to invite six people, and two of them have already had to decline, so I'm really hoping the other four can make it.
Alex is still not "officially" crawling, which trounces my predictions that he'd be crawling in time for Penny's birthday. But he's nearly as mobile as a crawling baby with his little Army-man belly-crawl. And since I've caught him several times in the baby equivalent of Downward-Facing Dog, I'm beginning to wonder if he might be one of those kids who skips crawling and goes straight for walking. (Though that's still a long ways off. He can't keep his balance standing, even if he's holding on to something.)
He did figure out how to clap this weekend, though. He loves banging toys together (is this where I insert the "typical boy" joke?) and suddenly seemed to realize that he could bang his empty hands together, as well. He doesn't get much noise out of it, and I think it's still about 75% accidental, but we're cheering him on anyway.
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