Planning for Amiri's party continued today, with an order placed for a custom cake at a local bakery. Should be a good looking and hopefully good tasting cake and of course I'll have pics of the thing on the BLOG in no time. Incidentally, this isn't really a party. The only attendees will be Ami', his parents, his aunt, and his grandparents. That's not what I had in mind, but in the grand scheme of things I haven't been here to take care of him, or help with invitations, or any of the real planning, so I can't complain. His third birthday party and each one after that will be an event if I have anything to do with it. Some of my fondest memories from my childhood were the parties my parents, and later just my mom, would throw for me. Lots of kids playing with new toys, opening gifts, watching the grownups laugh and carry on. As I grew older the parties went away, but those memories are still fairly fresh. Ami' won't remember his second birthday, and maybe not the third, but as he gets a little older these birthday parties will form substantive memories of his childhood and I want them to be spectacular memories. Besides...birthday parties are outstanding photo opportunities!
The big outing of the day was a visit to
The Magic House. Check the link for details, but the place is one big learning adventure. When he's a little older Ami' will truly appreciate the place, but even at the tender age of "almost" 2 he was running around and having a ball. His social behavior today was significantly improved over his behavior at the playground in the mall on my last R&R trip. Whereas he was timid and extremely wary of the other kids back in March, today he either ignored them all together, or went around/through/by them to get to whatever toy or activity he was interested in. That's exactly the sort of social behavior I was hoping would flow from his reintroduction to daycare. Nothing beats being around kids your own age on an almost daily basis and I think the entire family is in agreement that at least socially he's in much better shape as a result of being back in daycare. If you're in St. Louis, have kids, and haven't been to the Magic House yet, it's definitely worth the price of admission!
