Ein Fest für Joey

The kids have uniformly been looking forward to this date for about two months now. Said Ella, "I can't wait mom! Two of the biggest holidays of the year are coming up!" Which ones would those be? Why, Halloween, and the birthday of Joseph Theodore. And, to a man, they're looking forward to the latter more.

Alex has been keeping a little motorcycle hidden underneath his bed since Knabenschiessen: a passerby had handed it to him, and Joey was jealous, so Alex decided right then that it would be a perfect birthday gift for his brother.

As for Ella, yesterday, when we got back from Liechtenstein, she made a special trip to the candy store to buy her brother his favorite sweets, the long, thick gummy snakes and the little gummy frogs. Joey would be an excellent candidate for Survivor.

She spent an additional five francs of her own money on a playmobil toy for him, and also gave him a car to go with a little track that she drew. When I teased her, pointing out that the lemonade stand is bigger than the grocery store, she defended her art. "Look where you're standing. It's closer to you."

But her preparations went well beyond gifts. For weeks and weeks, now, she's been working on building a life-sized Candy Land game board, complete with costumes and prizes. All three kids have been eagerly anticipating the game, with Joey telling me last night "My party day is the best party day!" But Ella clearly suffers from some hostess anxiety: she woke up at 6:00 this morning and immediately began setting up the game, stretching it clear across the house.

Exactly according to plan

I had reservations about this immediately, when I was stumbling around the game in the morning, trying to navigate brewing morning coffee without slipping on or sullying cardboard. But I really grew alarmed when Ella started scolding her brothers, who, when they woke up, were of course charmed by the game and started trotting back and forth across the path.  "No! Don't touch it! Okay, Joey, just one time across the path, but that's it! Now stop, I'm begging you, please!" And then, finally, "Stop it, you...you monsters!!!" I gravely informed Ella that the game would have to be disassembled until just before the 2:00 party. She was not amused. Is there any time more dicy and difficult to navigate than the hours leading up to a birthday party?

But after the stress of tiptoeing around the house was removed, we all did better. While I cleaned and cooked, Dennis sat with the kids and played games with them, and then we pulled the pumpkins off the patio and let the kids carve them for tomorrow.

Dennis always does such a wonderful job, having the kids draw their own faces and then encouraging them (and keeping them safe) as they cut their own pumpkins.  The result is that we always have pumpkins that look very much like the kids' drawings, and I love them so much.

Ella's not so sure about the pumpkin guts, and all the kids were skeptical of the toasted seeds. Good. More for me.

Joey, too, got into the spirit of things and drew his own face on his pumpkin with a marker, and proudly watched while I did my best to cut it out.

From left to right, Joey, Alex, and Ella

I bought a little farm set to put on Joey's cake. He decided

an crocodile and a shark might add some excitement to

my farm scene.

Part of the reason for Ella's outburst might be that the Ella and Alex still seem to have some sort of GI bug, which just got worse right around lunchtime.  While Alex curled up to rest before the party, Joey helped me decorate his birthday cake, and Ella, finally, finally, returned our apartment to its former glory.

Of course, the part that the kids were most anticipating was that this would be Candyland with real candy. I'd forgotten about this part of her plan until today, but luckily Dennis was already going to the grocery store to pick up some emergency things, so we added cookies and lollypops and mints and chocolate eggs to his shopping list. (Ella kept the board identical to the Milton Bradley game, except that she changed the treats around, slightly, to things the sweets that my kids love best.)

We nudged Alex awake a few minutes before nochElla showed up, wearing her fanciest party dress, holding a costume that she'd made for our other guest, Caroline, and a gift for Joey. He was received his gift just as a three-year-old should: "For me? Thank you, Ella!"

When Caroline showed up, nochElla and Ella took charge, shuffling the littler kids into their costumes and listing the rules of the game, particularly the distribution of the candy treats. That was critical.

When the kids made the plan for this party, it was clear that we had to keep it really small: I couldn't really see shuffling more than five kids around the game board.  But Dennis took charge of drawing the cards and telling the kids their colors...and it worked remarkably well (thank goodness!)  The kids loved it, and they played that game more than five times.

All by himself: Joey, waiting his turn.

So that passed the afternoon nicely, until it was time for cake. Joey waited solemnly for everyone to sing to him, and then blew out his candles with great gusto. The kids bolted their cake and then returned to their game.


When it was clear the kids had finally had enough of Candyland, we sent them outside to blow bubbles, and then I let Joey open his gift from Dennis and me early, some more Berenstain Bear books. That turned out to be an excellent way to round out the party: Joey wanted a story right away, but halfway through "The Berenstain Bears and too Much Birthday," I noticed some snores coming from my arms.

Right on cue.