It's a Party

A few weeks ago we celebrated Ree's birthday at school.  On the day we celebrated I aided in her classroom (with some help from Natalia in the sling), and at the end of the day, Jeff and the boys joined us for the party.  Each day at preschool ends with the kids sitting in a circle, listening to a story.  For birthdays, the story is followed by the teachers placing a small table in the middle of the circle and lighting a candle on the table to represent the sun.  The birthday child then holds a globe to represent the Earth and walks around the "sun" once for each year they are old.  While they are walking, their parents tell about what happened in their life that year.  Following the ceremony, school is dismissed, and the kids who are allowed to partake enjoy cupcakes on the playground.  (We have several families that avoid eating sugar.  While I respect that immensely, the very thought makes me want to run for the M&Ms.)

Jeff and the boys arrived that day during story time.  Michael walked in, waved, and loudly said, "Hi, guys!"  Leon is a little better at reading situations and he chose to be quiet when the other kids were all silently listening to a story.  He quietly came over to me, wrapped his arms around my neck, sat in my lap, and whispered in my ear, "Where's the cupcakes?" 

Tonight we went to a belated autumn equinox party with some other families.  Having never attended one before, we explained to the kids as much as we could ahead of time, but it was still a bit of a mystery.  Adding to the intrigue was the fact that it was out in the country, a truly foreign adventure for our city dwellers.  Upon arriving, Michael jumped out of the car and ran toward the other kids, ready to join in the fun.  Leon held back and wanted to hold hands with me (a true sign of nervousness since it practically takes a supernatural act to get him to hold hands in a parking on a regular day).  We had been there about 10 minutes when Leon again whispered in my ear.  This time he said with surprise and awe, "Mom, it's a PARTY!"