Party Time

Apparently every child in Andrew's Pre-K class was born in the months from February through April. This means the preschool birthday circuit is crowded and hectic. We were able to sneak Andrew's birthday party in this weekend, although his actual birthday is on Thursday. So Andrew, along with his family and most of his classmates, gathered at the Children's Museum of Memphis for his pirate themed fourth birthday party. Kids this age don't have much patience for some elaborately choreographed event, so we kept it simple with three easy steps.

Step One - Let Them Eat Cake

Step Two - Get Your Pirate On...Or Your Spider Man if you happen to be named Brady.

Step 3 - Pose For The Obligatory "Arghhh" Picture and Set The Children Free to Explore

After the party concluded, the family went back to the house for presents and pizza from the Trolley Stop. Andrew's gift from Agnes and me this year was his very own set of real golf clubs with balls and a glove. I told Andrew that the weather was supposed to be nice the next day so we would go to Audubon Park and hit golf balls. He thought that meant we were going as soon as we woke up. He was a little disappointed when I told him we weren't going till that afternoon, but that didn't stop him from wearing his golf glove all day, including to breakfast and church.

Also, you may have noticed from the pictures, Andrew swings lefty. He does every thing else with his right hand but anything he does that involves two hands he does left handed. We tried to get him to swing right handed for future convenience and expense if he sticks with golf, but he would have none of it. It must be a genetic hold over from his Great-Grandfather, who also swung lefty and wrote righty. If Andrew emulates him in ways other than which side of the golf ball he prefers to stand on, I would be very OK with that also.

Spring Teaser

Andrew's birthday is coming up at the beginning of March. When you ask him, he will quickly show you that he will be four fingers old. One of the things I have learned in these past four fingers, is that Andrew's birthday triggers an anticipation of Spring for me. I have usually, by this point, been given a sneak peak or two of the coming season and begin to anxiously await the time when tulips, dogwoods and even evil mosquitoes remind me of new beginnings. Andrew has taken this time, in the run-up to his birthday party next weekend, to help stuff goody boxes for the other children that will be in attendance.

The up coming season also reminds me of the resilience of life. The way it emerges on the other side of frost and adversity, to dare to thrive once again. This fortitude is personified in the children like Noah, who are born with that little something extra and must work a little harder to achieve some of things we take for granted.  We got to meet some of these children and their families this weekend at the Down Syndrome Association of Memphis and the Mid-South new parent brunch. Along with brunch, this gathering also included a therapy session, which touched on some of the techniques used by physical, developmental and speech therapist, which are so important to the early intervention needed by our little ones. As you can see, it usually consist of focused play time used to reinforce good habits...and apparently a little kissing, because all these babies are ridiculously cute.

While Noah was participating in the therapy session, Andrew, along with the other siblings, were doing crafts projects in another room.  This other room also had a play kitchen that Andrew and Noah discovered after the sanctioned festivities were over. Andrew made tea on the grill while Noah did the dishes, sorta.

As the first beams of daylight poured into the upstairs windows, Sunday promised to be a gorgeous day, and it did not disappoint. We had day filled with fun activities. But first, we had to spring Noah from baby jail.

Once sprung, Noah went to Babcia and Jadek's house to practice driving his getaway car.

One of the main highlights of the weekend was trekking out to Shelby Farms in celebration of the amazing weather, and trying our hand at kite flying. At the time, Agnes and I were high fiving and congratulating each other on our superb kite flying aptitude. Later however, we agreed that the unusually windy conditions had more to do with our success. This fact was further punctuated by Andrew's effortless ability to fly a kite despite never receiving any formal training.

Although Noah was amused by the kite flying, he again educated us on how to really enjoy a beautiful day, when one is handed to you. You just have to relax, and let the Memphis air blow through your hair. At only a year and a half, he already knows how to be content by just being.