Another Year Older

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?