I wish I could say that it was perfect and blissful. In hindsight, it seems pretty funny. But . . .
Just getting to the skating rink by 6:30pm with dinner done was a feat. Before we even left the house, we had two plates of dinner meet the floor. Once we got to the skating rink, Greyson wouldn't even stand up on his skates. He was having a meltdown because he was so nervous about the lack of stability he felt. Tyler was falling ALL over the place. He was realizing quickly that this was not quite what he had imagined it would be. I sent Dave out to the car to find the stroller (the skating rink allows you to push a child in a stroller and I thought that might work for Greyson) but it was not in the car. Eventually, family showed up and I handed the baby off to my mom, my sis-in-law and I took Tyler on each side and worked with him. Five minutes later, Dave flagged me down to to see if I had brought extra clothes for Greyson. He had had an accident and was SOAKED! No-I hadn't remembered extra clothes. Dave left with Greyson to drive home and get him changed. While he was gone, I noticed that Chad (who is 7 1/2 -seriously!) had wet himself too! Whaaat!?!? I called Dave and had him bring a change of clothes for Chad too.
Once Dave returned, we did finally get to the gifts and cake part of the evening. Tyler had wanted a beach cake .
Tyler was not even sure what he wanted. My parents got him a box of Legos, Dave's parents got him some play doh tools-both a hit with him. We went with a snow cone maker and I can already see the multitude of snow cone sales he will be having this summer with it. He even received a while sleeve of cone cups and two containers of flavoring syrup to go with it from my brother and his family.
I have recently started reading the book I Didn't Plan To Be A Witch by Linda Eyre. I thought one of her statements was very fitting for our evening: "Let's realize that crisis plus time equals humor." Yes, it is already a little funny now.
I sure love our Tyler. He has the most contagious smile. He loves to play- Candyland, Legos, school, you name it. He enjoys building houses and tents with pillows, and he is known to ask often, "Mom, why in 'Lego' does it say 'leg'"? or any number of variations of this phrase which usually have no answer. He's pretty excited to start kindergarten, and I think a little disappointing that he doesn't get to start until the fall. I think he thought that if you start at age 5, then he should be starting NOW.
Happy Birthday Tyler!!!