Monday, June 1, 2009

It could be worse...


I used to be on it with birthday parties. I picked a theme and planned all the details months in advance. I even had time to order party supplies on line.

About three weeks before Alex’s birthday, Sara B. asked me what I was going to do for Alex’s party this year. I thought, “What? That’s a loooooooooong time away!” Then I realized it wasn’t.

I wasn’t really all that excited to host a party at Bounce Planet, yet again. It’s becoming routine. I’m not ready for lazer tag or paint ball and the giant rental bouncy house was a one time event.

Alex decided what he really wanted was a simple party at home with a Star Wars theme. That I can do, because Annie just did that, and she’ll let me lift all her ideas! We have to wait until the end of June because our calendar is full all the weekends Alex’s friend Jack isn’t in Florida.

We did celebrate as a family this weekend. We took Alex to the Apple store in the mall and let him choose his own iPod. That was probably just as much fun for me as it was for the Gator. Brandon refuses to acknowledge just how cool Macs are, so he stood around looking too astute to be intrigued, while his iPhone rested in his pocket.

After the mall, we went out for sushi. Yes, that’s what Alex wanted. It’s no longer a novelty; he likes it. He really, really likes it. I even branched out from California rolls and was pretty happy I took the risk.

We ended the day with cake on the patio, where we were not allowed to sing. As I started to sing, Alex put up his hand and said, “Thanks, but no thanks Mom. I’ll do without the singing this year.” He opened the other small gifts we’d gotten him, all the while carrying around his shiny new iPod showing me all the things it could do.

I helped Alex upload a few songs and he wanted Jimmy Buffett. Of course we have literally every Buffett song ever written. Of course not all of those are suitable for a seven year old’s playlist. Alex asked me for “The Tiki Bar is Open.” I was on the fence. I understand why he wanted it. It’s jaunty. I often listen to it while doing dishes or scrubbing toilets, but I wasn’t sure Alex needed to walk around singing, “Thank God the Tiki Bar is Open. Thank God the Tiki Bar is here!”

I told him we might upload it later. Telling my kids we'll do things "later" is in the same family as "we'll see" and "I'll think about it."

An hour later, Alex was walking around with earbuds singing “The Tiki Bar is Open,” a beat behind and very off-key. I looked at his iPod and sure enough the little rat had figured out how to pull up our library in iTunes and click and drag the song onto his iPod.


I made my own bed, didn’t I?!

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