My little baby boy turned 8 years old today. I don't know how this happened, given that when he was 6 I forbade him from getting any older. But there you have it; not even a teenager yet and he's already disobeying me.
Having a summer birthday is rough. For school-aged children, they miss out on the opportunity to have their "special day" in the classroom and to bring in treats (edible or otherwise) to share. Having an August birthday compounds the problem in the DC-metro area since a large number of families use this month for vacations before the school year starts after Labor Day. This year, the little guy wanted to limit his invite list to his three closest friends. All three of those friends are out of town this week.
It broke my heart to tell my son we'd have to cancel his pool party because no one was available. We pacified him with promises of a party after school starts, when everyone is in town. I also said we'd do something special together this Saturday (the planned date of the fated party). I baked him the exact cake that he wanted yesterday (half chocolate with chocolate icing; half vanilla with vanilla icing), and he was able to take it to his day camp today. Our extended families are going to take him out to dinner as a treat. However, all of these gestures don't make up for the fact that my baby isn't going to enjoy the birthday party that he planned.
(It was his idea to limit the guest list to his three closest friends. He said "I don't want to have too many people come because I don't want to get too many presents." I guess all my nagging about there being kids without any toys at all must have sunk in. Now if he'd just clean up the playroom and donate those extra toys...)
So, how do all of you make sure that your child gets to enjoy his or her special day?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Another Year Older
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6 comments:
I have an Xmas baby so I am going to face some 'prior-commitment-out-of-town' scenarios too! But he's too little to register. For the rest of us, we have this red plate that says "You are special today" that we all love to have for dinner on our bdays. Hope your 8 year old has a great one!
I take him on a walk in the park and get him lots of pats. Also I like watching him rip open his presents with his teeth.
:P
August babies have a hard time with birthdays...living overseas it's reeeeally difficult because everyone is usually out of the country on home leave that month. That said, I don't actually remember having problems getting people to birthday celebrations. Maybe we celebrated on a different day and I just didn't notice? :)
Have you thought about having a 1/2 birthday party? I've known some students to bring in cupcakes on their half birthday if it doesn't occur during the school year.
Dangerous Days of Daniel X - I think he'd enjoy it. If it turns out it's still a little over his head for him to read, it's a great read-aloud story. That's how Adam and I read the books that we review together. I love that he still likes me to read to him.
I'll check out the other series too - thanks!!
My children were born in December and February and wished they had summer birthdays so they could celebrate outdoors. [I'm going to tell them about the perils of summer birthdays, even if my youngest is 20.] If we couldn't plan a party for the exact day, we always celebrated as a family that day.
I also have a Christmas baby. Balance is a hard issue when it comes to presents ... especially since we also celebrate Chanukah!
Can you convince him that his special day is reserved for just family, and celebrating with others can happen any time?
I'm an August birthday, too, and I think my mother sold me on that idea.
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