The Birthday Post That Time (Mom) Forgot

I need to get one thing out of the way, here.  Owen turned five at the end of November!  Five, five, five!  He is five!

It really is a blogging travesty that I did not do a birthday post at that time, because Owen himself had a year of build-up, a week of birthday celebration frenzy, and a post-birthday period that is just now waning a bit.  And by post-birthday period, I mean that beginning the day after his birthday, he would approach anyone and everyone and tell them "I'm five now!  My birthday was...(fill in the blank - he is quite good at time/calendar comprehension, so it would start out "one day ago," then "two weeks ago," and now we are in the "a while ago" time frame).  We would be having dinner in a restaurant, and he would spot strangers coming in the door and remark, "I bet they don't know that I'm five..." and we would have to rein him in before he approached them to announce it.

I have no doubt that one day Owen will be researching blog posts as part of therapy to uncover the exact moment(s) that his mother failed him and caused his eventual downfall, and he will discover that I did not blog about his Beloved 5th Birthday!!! until February.  Lord help me.

Maybe it's not a coincidence that Owen would like (usually) to be older than he is.  He wants to be as old as his siblings (and, what do you know, Natalie wants to be his age, because she has declared that "babies get everything" and "everyone says little kids are cute"), he wants to be able to hang with the big boy pack in the neighborhood, he wants to be able to watch scary movies and games.  He is always calculating his age in comparison to everyone else.  I must have at least that in my favor, because he is not shy about telling everyone I am 44.  Older must be better.  Yay, me.

But back to the birthday.  I really felt that I had to give him a real party, with real friends, this year.  He liked Chuck E. Cheese last year, but I could tell he felt cheated a bit when he realized it was family-only and his friends weren't coming.  The boy is such a social animal.  But from a selfish standpoint, I was worried about a huge, long, noisy party sending him into stimulation overdrive and making it impossible for anyone (me) to enjoy.  So I tried to compromise this year, and booked a party at the bouncy inflatables party place, but I set the time for a Tuesday morning, hoping to keep the party small that way.  It worked (for me) because most of his class could not attend.  I honestly thought more of them would be able to attend, since his preschool class was Mon/Wed/Fri.  Luckily, his very Best Friend at school came - otherwise my guilt over intentionally keeping the attendee list small would have been too much.  I think he had a great time.  And the parents who were there all seemed to enjoy the lower volume, shorter time, and less crazy atmosphere.  So hopefully win/win (until Owen is old enough to read about it and realizes I sabotaged his party).

My birthday boy.  He is the only kid I know at the age of almost-but-not-quite-five-but-want-to-talk-about-my-pending-birthday-to-everyone who gets the following comments within a week span from different acquaintances (think realtor, handyman, etc.):  "That boy is going to be President some day," and "Whew.  I think he's going to be a CEO someday" to "What a Salesman that boy will make."  I would be happy to think that even one person had made a comment like that about me anytime in my life, but I doubt it has happened (parents don't count).  But Owen can be captivating that way.  He has a presence, and an awareness of relationships and connections and surroundings.  Also a charm.  The realtor may have opined about Owen being President shortly after Owen looked up at him, cocked his head to the side and declared, "I sure do like your beard.  That's a nice beard!"  on the heels of asking the man about the age and whereabouts of his son, what baseball team said son played on, and various other personal data gathering topics.  Flattery is powerful.  Say what you will about whether the charm is real or fake (and really, I suppose intentions can be less than sincere, but can charm be fake?), the boy is interested in people.  My little social butterfly.  He has opened up my eyes to this different world, being the social caterpillar that I am.  He is social, he is passionate, he is interested in the people and world around him, and he is enthusiastic.  "Enthusiasm" and "zest" are words I always hear from his teachers.  Happy Birthday, my wonderful boy!

 The party was Ninja themed.  Those are Lego Ninja eyes taped to the balloons.

 The Lego Ninja cake made by a neighbor.  Owen loved it SO much that he literally jumped for joy when he saw it and gave her the biggest hug and thanked her over and over, prompting her to invite him to come to her house and play with her son's legos while he was at school (see Salesman reference above).

Sliding - whee!

 Owen and his very best friend (much missed, now that we've moved).  I'm just now noticing his friend is wearing Spiderman shoes.  Ha!  I guess that's why he wants to wear his own Spidey shoes (handed down from a different friend) all the time.  Jim thinks they are the ugliest shoes, and always tries to convince him to wear "normal" ones.

Owen the Pirate, with the telescope and headband that his best friend gave him for a birthday present.  Aaarrrgh!  Love that pirate look.

He does make a handsome five year old.