Splashing, Smoothies, and Songs: All the Things a 1-Year-Old Could Want for a Birthday

Birthdays are a big deal in our family, so of course, we had to do it up right for our Little Man's very first one.

His birthday fell on a Thursday and his party on a Saturday, so we had a whole long weekend of celebration. On his real birthday, we had a family portrait and a special birthday lunch. Well, Mommy and Daddy had a special lunch--Little Man stuck with his yougurt and applesauce, his favorite foods at the moment. Our little walker trekked all over the mall, holding tightly to his Daddy's finger. He's really getting the hang of being on his feet and prefers it to crawling in almost every situation. We visited the Disney Store, where he picked out his very own Rabbit from the Winnie The Pooh stories, who now resides in his crib.

At dinner we presented him with a chocolate cupcake with a big blue "1" candle stuck in it and waited anxiously with the camera on to see what he would do. The candle was tossed aside and he stared critically at the cupcake, then gave me a look that clearly said, what, you want me to touch this thing? Little Man is not a big fan of getting his hands dirty, and we've never been able to get him to eat cake. So we gave him a spoon and let him smush the cupcake to pieces with that, which he happily did for almost 20 minutes. He did not eat a bit of it, although he mimed eating it off his spoon.

Friday's festivities included time with his Nana and Great Grandma while Mommy and Daddy snuck out to see the final Harry Potter movie--I am a hardcore fan of the books and the movies, so it was a really big treat for me. And...it was the first movie I had seen in a theater since I was 6 months pregnant. It was a well-earned three hours.

We had a visit to the "splash ground", where Little Man explored the fountains and we both got soaking wet. When we came home, we turned on music and laughed ourselves silly watching Little Man dance--he stands in the center of the room and waves him arms and wiggles his little tushie.

Saturday was the big party day, hosted by his Godparents. Since he's obviously not a fan of cake, the theme of the party was "smoothies and snacks". His whole family and some special friends gathered to help us celebrate. He had so much fun he passed out sitting up halfway through the party and we had to wake him up to open his gifts. All the people in his life spoiled him rotten, and our living room now resembles a Toys-R-Us. He loves his new fire engine with real fire-engine noises--he hasn't quite mastered climbing on it and riding it himself, but he loves to push it and goes careening around the room with it as fast as his legs will go. He has new music DVDs that we groove to almost every day, and a fancy new wagon that we explore the outdoors in.

He won't remember his first birthday, but Husband and I sure will. And so will the rest of our family. And that's what birthdays are all about, right? Not the gifts (although they are pretty cool), but remembering and celebrating the past year and all that has hapened. Little Man will see it through pictures and stories, and know that he is the most loved Little Man in all the land.