I have an update on the sleeping situation, as well as the next Twilight post, coming down the pipe, but today Babby is 11 months old, so I want to talk about that.
Ahem.
ELEVEN MONTHS? WHAT THE HELL?
WHERE DID THE TIME GO??
WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO FOR HIS BIRTHDAY???
HOW CAN HE EVEN HAVE A BIRTHDAY; HE’S JUST A NEWBORN BAAAAAAAAAAAAAABY!
Good news: The sign for milk has reappeared with avengeance. Babies are strange.
He had a well-baby this past month and we discovered that he is 18 lbs, and still in the 15th percentile for weight. That’s good, it means he’s holding his own. Maybe not making any insane strides in the weight department, but growing at a normal pace.
His length is dirt-average, coming in at 50th percentile.
His massive melon head is in the 85th percentile.
That’s right: 15th, 50th, and 85th.
So basically, he has a skinny little body under a massive head. Like a lollipop. Or a bobble-head toy.
It means that one friend’s 3 month old is only 3 pounds away from surpassing my nearly-one year old, and another friend’s son has left Babby in his dust, by hitting 19 pounds at the 6 month mark.
But don’t we all wish our babies could stay small for longer? So I don’t mind.
I like him just the way he is.
But holy crap, I need to do something for his birthday, and I have no clue what to do.
If he were older, I would throw a kid-centric party at a local indoor play place, or perhaps a miniature train ride place or similar. But Babby isn’t really old enough to enjoy play grounds, and most of my B.C. friends don’t have kids, so it would mostly be a bunch of adults standing around in a place that had far too many clowns on the wall for any normal human to feel comfortable.
So then I think about throwing a more adult-centric party, because after all, isn’t this more a celebration of PH and I surviving the first year than an actual party for Babby? HE doesn’t know that he’s going to be a year old.
But some of my friends do have small children, and it seems weird to throw a first birthday that is absolutely no fun for kids.
Then there’s the matter of sheer volume of guests.
I’m the sort of person who likes to have one cohesive group of friends whom I see regularly. However, between my friends from my old work, PH’s friends from his old job, a fight between those friends from PH’s old job (resulting in half of them not speaking to the other half, and us caught in the middle), and a couple of old friends from our university days who now live out this way, we have multiple groups of friends, some of whom don’t know each other, and others who (even more awkwardly) aren’t speaking to each other. All of these friends fawn over Babby and would expect to be invited to his birthday.
Oh, and neighbours who invited us to THEIR son’s first birthday, and are expecting us to return the favour.
Luckily, Babby never seems to get overwhelmed or overstimulated by large numbers of people. He thrives on it (how did we end up with an extrovert? HOW?). So despite the baby-book warnings of keeping parties small, Babby really wouldn’t mind a massive party.
Problem: Our living room is tiny. We had seven friends over last night and you couldn’t walk through the room comfortably once everyone was sitting down. Legs everywhere. A part with
Our complex does have a “party” room, which is really just a big empty room near the pool with a playground outside. We could reserve it for the day, open up the doors, and let everyone come to us. The kids could play in the pool or the playground, and the adults could stand around and talk.
But then that leads to awkward standing-around-and-making-conversation situations, which, as an introvert, I find exceedingly trying. I would probably spend the whole time stressing over whether everyone was having a reasonably good time, and trying to share myself around between three or four different groups of people, who would probably be standing around in odd bunches.
Or we could reserve a table at a local restaurant. Babby loves eating out, and is always well behaved. It would put a set time limit on the party (long enough to eat), and people would be able to just sit down and converse with their neighbours.
That would be good.
But that isn’t much fun for the few kiddies (average age about 4) who would probably attend, and then what about cake and presents? Would a restaurant let us bring in a separate birthday cake?
HELP, FOLKS.
HELP.
Oh, and as a separate issue, as he approaches one I am finding “Babby” to be a less and less appropriate nickname for him. I think I need to either out his real name, or adjust to a more personality-based (as opposed to age-based) handle for him. Any thoughts? Suggestions?
If By Yes 
I think it doesn’t matter what kind of party as long as you make it as low-stress as possible. There’s no point in getting over-involved in a party for a 1-year-old. If I was going to do something, I’d have a cookout at a park so kids could run/roll/play and adults could eat and hang out. I wouldn’t go much bigger.
Don’t overthink it. Just do something fun! And give babby a little cake…
Definitely! Trying to decide between one big cake, or little cupcakes!
I have the cake situation under control. Consider it done, just tell me what flavour Babby prefers (or can have). Additional post below on the moniker question.
Ooh, your cakes are the bestest cakes, but you’re so busy already!
Um, let me think:
1. It’s OWL!
2. Making cakes for peoples I love is the bestest thing ever.
3. SHUT UP!
PS…http://www.glamour.com/weddings/blogs/save-the-date/2011/03/5-edible-wedding-favors-from-e.html (see owl pops) or….http://www.thelooksforless.com/2010/03/27/random-love-my-sisters-owl-themed-baby-shower/ the cupcakes are friggen adorable and the cookies would make great and simple goodie bag substitutes.
OMG those owl cupcakes are TOO adorable! Could we have cream cheese icing? Or is that too hard to do?
Oh dear. I remember those issues. I’ve made lots of bad party decisions, but basically remember that it’s only 1 day and then it’s over, so it’s only ONE DAY of a bad decision which isn’t as horrible as, say, a bad haircut which can last, and last and last… I say do the party room so you don’t have to clean your house. Seriously.
A good point.
My kids haven’t had a traditional “with kids” party yet (at 6 and 3). We invite a few family members that *they* like, they can have whatever they want for supper, singing, presents, cake, the end.
If worrying about party arrangements is stressing you out, don’t have a whacking big party. Simple. You’ve got years and years ahead of you when Little Stewie will demand more elaborate stuff. And if you have no party, then you don’t need to juggle all those competing interests – you can just tell everyone “we’re having a special dinner for Stewie, just the family.”
Of course, “just the family” is really just PH and myself. But that is tempting.
You’re right. A one years old’s birthday is more about you and PH than it is about Babby. I know a couple who had a huge Rock Band themed party for their one year old (there were costumes, and everything). There were kids there (who had a blast), but they were vastly outnumbered by the adults. The party went late into the night, long after the birthday girl had gone to bed. But they are a family of extroverts. In my opinion, the party room sounds like the best option, if you really want to have a big to do. Babby himself has no expectations, so I think you should do what you feel comfortable doing, and not play to what you perceive to be the expectations of others. There’s only so many years before he starts having an opinion, and until then I think you should enjoy it while it lasts.
Yeah, I don’t understand birthday parties for one year olds that are really geared toward the actual kid. Pfft. It’s more like throwing a party for my dog. I want him to have a fun day, but I know he won’t know why…
I am in the “family party until they are old enough to have real friends” camp. As far as new nicknames, you could just refer to him as “Head.” those of us who have seen How I Married an Axe Murderer will fill in the Scottish brogue in our heads.
If we were back home, family party would totally be the way to go. Unfortunately, our families are on the other side of the continent, so these friends are all Babby’s adopted “aunties” and “uncles”. And there’s a lot of them!
What about having an open house kind of party where people can come and go based on their schedule? That way people who don’t like each other need not be there at the same time. While I am an extrovert some of the time, I have my introverted times as well and I find it easier to socialize with people I don’t know if there is something to do other than sit/stand and make small talk. Food is good, games are great, movies are also helpful. It might even be a fun idea to have a bunch of kids games that the adults are encouraged to play, like pin the tail on the donkey, a pinata, hopscotch, hoola hoops…. maybe I’m turning into my mother. She loved having organized games like that at my birthday parties. Or if kids games seem like too much work, board games and video games are great. You could even encourage guests to bring their own, especially for those with kids.
I can’t believe that babby is almost one. Cynthia’s twins are almost one as well (they are only about a week or two older than babby. While I don’t think it’s necessary to keep babby’s name a secret, I kind of like reading the nicknames that you have for your family. It adds to your writing style. So while I don’t have a suggestion for a new nickname for babby, I would like to see him continue to have one 🙂
The open house idea *is* rather nice. Except if people dropped in during nap-time it’d be pretty un-fun. Maybe split up into two parties?
No. NO. Bad idea.
ONE?!!? A year already??? No. It can’t be.
As someone who also lives away from family, we had friend parties for the kids out of necessity. However, we conveniently really only have one group of friends, and the kids are all the same ages and growing up together, so it all makes sense. Your situation does indeed sound potentially awkward.
I would either do the party room thing as an open house, as already suggested, or keep it pretty small and do a restaurant thing. Unless you know of kids that don’t do well in restaurants, I think that would be okay. Liam’s friends have had that type of birthday party before, and the kids have all done well. As long as it’s a busy-ish, family-friendly place with a decent kids’ menu, it seems to work out. You could provide small toys or crayons and coloring books to keep them busy till food arrives (that seems to be the trickiest part), and then they’ll be busy with their meals. Plus, their parents will be there to wrangle them.
Whatever you do, make sure you have cake! Watching them mush it and get it all over them and love the sweet treat is the BEST part of those early birthdays, in my opinion. 😀
As for a new nickname, how about PS for Perfect Son? Goes along with the theme you’ve got goin’. 😉
Happy Eleven Months, Babby!!
I know, where does the time go? YOUR baby is one!
And DEFINITELY on the cake! Considering getting cupcakes instead of a standard cake just for the fun of watching him cram the whole thing in :-p
And Perfect Son sounded good to me for a second, and then a) I remembered last night and b) realized that it could get awkward if we have another boy in the future…
First Son? First Child? Or Toddy (for toddler)? 🙂
Anyway. We went to a 1st birthday party last year. It felt very awkward. There were a bunch of adults, including great-grandparents, and some of the baby’s parents’ relatives children, crammed into the living room of the baby’s grandparents. The baby himself couldn’t have cared less about the party. He didn’t even open the presents, because – well, he had no idea what they were!
I don’t really see the reason for having a party for someone who isn’t even old enough to appreciate it. If it were me, I’d just have a nice dinner with my hubby, to celebrate ourselves surviving our first year as parents. Mind you, I have always HATED parties, especially hosting them (this includes when I was a child and it was MY birthday party) … so I might not be the best one to give advice. 😉 I have recently figured out WHY this is, and how it ties in with being an introverted HSP … which is a blog post still waiting to be written. Heh.
I never thought I’d throw much of a party either. But Babby is such an extrovert that I know he’d LOVE one. And he’d rip the hell out of the paper on the presents. Then he’d toss aside the present and eat the paper!
to be fair, RuRu is COLOSSAL so it’s not really as bad as it seems that he’s almost as big as Babby (or, the Toddler formally known as Babby, whom we shall now call %).
In my very humble opinion, if you’re going to have a party and it could be awkward, hold it outside of your home so there’s more space and there’s also more clearly defined boundaries. For example, a clear start and end time. This provides you with an escape at the end of the party. No one will be hanging around while you’re trying to put the child down for a nap because you will have left the party site and gone somewhere else. They’d have to creepily stalk you in order to do so (which I may consider, truthfully. But we’ll see how it goes. I’ll have to consider the robot situation).
The party IS more about you than him, but he should still enjoy it. Something everyone would enjoy would be great, but may not actually be feasible (too bad the PNE would be prohibitively expensive, because I bet both % and adults would be delighted). However, generally people expect that it’s going to be mildly child-geared, being a first birthday party. I’m planning on doing the Confederation Park train for RuRu’s first party, especially since the hubby loves the train and would be just as delighted to ride it as RuRu. You can have a party there for a very reasonable price, and everyone can ride the train, even the adults. It’s outdoors, the party site is under tents, and it can be as long or as short as you like. In my case, I have to have space so that divorced parents aren’t cramped into small condos together.
Just a thought, anyways.
~k
Yes, we’ve actually thought of that, especially since their birthday pricing is extremely good. Not sure about how it will be for September though.
1 Vote for Owl. The head percentage may be 85, but the eyes are likely 98% — Personality wise, for the little wide eyed sleep hating, night loving wonder, Owl sounds pretty much perfect.
Ooh! Good idea!
YAY!!
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