Happiness hinging on a happy b'day
Well, the first half of my family visit is over. My sister and her family went home this morning. I now have a day and a half to relax/recover and also get all the final planning for my son's birthday done, then have a quick birthday lunch with my in-laws before my own parents come in Sunday, then Monday is the big party.
My stress this week has not come from the places from which I expected it. The visit with my sister actually went quite well and, aside from the normal things that we do to irritate one another, I had a good time seeing her and getting to know my niece better. No, my stress comes from this upcoming birthday for my son.
Why is it that I physically feel sick at even the thought of my son not having the best 6th birthday party ever? Seriously, I have been a wreck. Why?
Well, for starters the damn weather. For his 5th birthday, my son begged to have a pool party at our neighborhood pool. After realizing that no one could come last year because the only date we could get the pool was on the school's open house day, we quickly changed his party to a day and venue and had it at a kids' sports complex place. It was a great party in the end. However, SINCE that day, my son has begged to do a pool party for his next birthday. So, I got it all set up. And, now we're being bombarded with all these damn hurricanes and it is raining almost every day here. And, there's a 60 percent chance of it on the day we're having it. And, it usually rains here in the late afternoon, which is the only time I can get the pool.
Then, there's the fact that NO ONE IS FREAKIN' HOME RIGHT NOW. Yes, I said FREAKIN' people. Everyone has decided to take their last vacation trip on the week that his party is. I bumped his party a week ahead of his real birthday already, because of the school open house conflicts, and now I'm hitting vacation trips. I cannot WIN! Next year I am having his party in October. OK? So, mark your calendars NOW!
So, all I can think about is IF the party does not rain out, WILL anyone show? Fortunately, our family will be there, and 3 of his 4 cousins will be there. But, out of his friends, we have heard from 3 of his close friends who cannot come and we've heard nothing from his very favorite classmate/friend from last year. I fear if he doesn't come, my son will be so devastated.
It is times like these when you can kind of understand some of the ridiculous parents in our neighborhood who do things like rent clowns for their party, trains for the kids to ride around the block on or have parties with 20 kids invited for their child's 2nd birthday, etc. I always swore I'd never be that parent.
But, the look of disappointment...well, even the thought of that makes me feel sick inside. He is two weeks from starting kindergarten and that's such a big deal in his little world. If we have a big letdown for this party, and his introduction to riding the bus and going to the "Big K," is less than stellar, what will become of my happy little boy?
I may have finally found something that bothers me worse than disappointing someone I care about, and that is watching my child be disappointed and not being able to stop that.
My stress this week has not come from the places from which I expected it. The visit with my sister actually went quite well and, aside from the normal things that we do to irritate one another, I had a good time seeing her and getting to know my niece better. No, my stress comes from this upcoming birthday for my son.
Why is it that I physically feel sick at even the thought of my son not having the best 6th birthday party ever? Seriously, I have been a wreck. Why?
Well, for starters the damn weather. For his 5th birthday, my son begged to have a pool party at our neighborhood pool. After realizing that no one could come last year because the only date we could get the pool was on the school's open house day, we quickly changed his party to a day and venue and had it at a kids' sports complex place. It was a great party in the end. However, SINCE that day, my son has begged to do a pool party for his next birthday. So, I got it all set up. And, now we're being bombarded with all these damn hurricanes and it is raining almost every day here. And, there's a 60 percent chance of it on the day we're having it. And, it usually rains here in the late afternoon, which is the only time I can get the pool.
Then, there's the fact that NO ONE IS FREAKIN' HOME RIGHT NOW. Yes, I said FREAKIN' people. Everyone has decided to take their last vacation trip on the week that his party is. I bumped his party a week ahead of his real birthday already, because of the school open house conflicts, and now I'm hitting vacation trips. I cannot WIN! Next year I am having his party in October. OK? So, mark your calendars NOW!
So, all I can think about is IF the party does not rain out, WILL anyone show? Fortunately, our family will be there, and 3 of his 4 cousins will be there. But, out of his friends, we have heard from 3 of his close friends who cannot come and we've heard nothing from his very favorite classmate/friend from last year. I fear if he doesn't come, my son will be so devastated.
It is times like these when you can kind of understand some of the ridiculous parents in our neighborhood who do things like rent clowns for their party, trains for the kids to ride around the block on or have parties with 20 kids invited for their child's 2nd birthday, etc. I always swore I'd never be that parent.
But, the look of disappointment...well, even the thought of that makes me feel sick inside. He is two weeks from starting kindergarten and that's such a big deal in his little world. If we have a big letdown for this party, and his introduction to riding the bus and going to the "Big K," is less than stellar, what will become of my happy little boy?
I may have finally found something that bothers me worse than disappointing someone I care about, and that is watching my child be disappointed and not being able to stop that.
posted by Crazy MomCat @ 10:30 PM
3 Comments:
Wow, you just listed the many reasons why I'm always scared to have a party for myself... magnify those by a thousand when it's for your own child! I totally feel for you.
Any stress about the OTHER birthdays in the Cat family?!? All of us are VERY GLAD you were born! :-)
AWwwww....thanks for remembering! No stress here. Although my little sister did have fun pointing out that I'll be officially "in my upper thirties" now and pretty much "middle age" in her book--the little brat!
Seriously though, I'm so busy right now juggling family and planning Ryan's party, as well as taxi-ing him to the 5 million parties he's invited to this summer, to THINK about being old. I already KNOW I am! HA!
I can TOTALLY identify with your fears...
I had a first birthday party for Baby and invited 12 moms and babies from my play group. TWO showed up. That's right. Two. And I went to these two moms' baby birthday parties and NO ONE else showed up of the 12 moms invited. The worst thing is that I know that the other moms wouldn't come because they were pissed that I had a birthday party for Baby and they didn't have birthday parties when their babies turned one a few months prior to mine.
Anyway, the party was great without the moms, because my actual friends showed up with their babies, but I had plenty of anxiety as a result of their lack of RSVPs.
Your son will look back and simply be happy that you had these parties for him. He won't even remember the names of most of these kids. And the earlier he learns that many "friends" are flaky, the better, although it's tough for you to watch. My girls have watched friends come and go and as a result, they're much more family-oriented today.
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