Cold Spaghetti

Opening presents after the party. This alligator bank was a present from Granna and PapPap (Granna and I found it last year at a special holiday party/museum sale for members at Audubon Zoo!) Will had a great time soliciting “alligator food” from his willing grandparents and watching the coins fall into the alligator’s belly. 

The house was spotless. We all worked our tails off Friday — Paul finished some painting and touch up in the kitchen (that’s right: the unpainted wall and miscellaneous spots are now complete!), I scrubbed the wood floors with water and vinegar, Nancy vacuumed and did dishes, George worked in the yard. We went to bed Friday night in a very beautiful and clean house!

So this morning, we got to take it a little easy. A trip to the grocery store, some other cleaning details (Paul actually vacuumed out our vents and tops of ceiling fans), and started getting food ready. We put Will down for a nap at 11. My parents arrived at 11:30 with the party goods. They brought all the party supplies that are difficult, if not impossible, to find in the city (plates, napkins, streamers, banner, balloons, and helium). My Mom saving the day with delicious food: artichoke dip, egg salad, and tuna pate. We loaded up dishes, cooked what needed to be cooked, set out crackers, chips, bread, fruit, and drinks, blew up balloons, and managed to get everything set up by 1:15. We woke Will up, changed him into his party clothes, and had just started to play when the guests began to arrive! There were a little over 30 people and 8 kids (6 were 2 and under).

The kids had a blast running up and down the ramp on Weezie and Phyllis’s house (our neighbors who graciously allowed us the use of their driveway for the party!) and the kids’ table, staffed by Paul’s Mom, always had little ones sitting down to try out the playdoh. Bubbles were always in the air, the sidewalk got some colorful chalk designs, and everyone was into the balloons. We discovered that Will had a particular interest in balloons… popping them. I was thinking that he’d pop a balloon, it would scare him, and he would stop sitting on them, bouncing on them, trying to eat them, etc. But instead, when one finally popped, he spent a great deal of time popping every balloon he could find. It became very entertaining.

Other entertainment began late into the party: Paul and Tim juggled! Tim was especially impressive (he juggled while riding a unicycle) although it was neat to watch the two of them throw clubs back and forth.

After the party, we retired inside to clean up and watch Will open presents. Will was really excited to find such wonderful gifts (he calls them a “s’prise!”) from friends and family! He had a great time with each gift and it took most of the night to let him open and play with each one.

By all accounts, it was a wonderful afternoon, a beautiful day, and a great party!

Will: covered in paint, fresh from school, hanging out! 

Paul at work, as captured by his Dad. So many folks wonder what the telecommuting life looks like… well, it basically looks like this, except being clean shaven and changed out of pajamas are optional!

Paul’s Dad took this picture during October… but it is so cute I wanted to post it. Will is eating his favorite breakfast food: Quaker Peaches and Cream Oatmeal! 

Today is picture day at Will’s school. I saved this outfit for today so that he would look a little extra-snazzy. The bummer is that his hair *still* has not been cut… I did my best to control it with some apple-scented hair gel. I was focusing on making sure his hair was cut for tomorrow’s party and of course no one but Mommy thinks about stuff like planning for outfits, haircuts, parties, and picture day! (I’m a little ticked about this one!) 

Excited by the gift (below), Will started in on other presents from Paul’s parents… the ones we were trying to save until his birthday! 

A birthday present from Gwen, Mario, and Clare arrived yesterday! We opened up the mailer to expose the present, and Will got *so* excited that we had to let him open it. In sharp contrast to last year, where Will needed considerable help in opening packages and generally was just as happy to play with the wrapped gift as he was to play with the present inside, this time Will dove right in so quickly that by the time I was able to get the camera and start snapping shots he had already opened the gift and got out one of the toys (a matchbox car) inside! Other goodies included cute dinosaur PJs (perfect since one of his favorite books is “Dinosaur Roar”), some Elmo utensils, a magnet frame, and little puppy book. 

At least with packages shipped to hurricane-impacted areas and especially to New Orleans!

Paul’s Mom sent a package two weeks ago for Will’s birthday… including birthday presents, party supplies, and other goodies. It has not arrived and UPS has been terrible: rude, unhelpful, deliberately misleading, and generally awful. It came to Metairie last Monday and although we called and asked to pick it up (several times) the bottom line is that no one knows where the package is… and tracking is not a guarantee that it will be found.

Today, we saw on Nola.com uptown forum that UPS is seriously being terrible to residents… all of the problems we’ve been having are being par for the course.

So, for us, USE FED-EX! UPS stinks. (Or consider sending packages to us to my parents house instead!)

Paul’s folks are visiting for the week and yesterday, Nancy (Paul’s Mom), visited Will’s school. Nancy has worked in pre-school education for many years and actually certifies head start programs in rural North Carolina. So, she joined the staff of University Montessori for a day. The plus: we now know more about what Will does at school.

Turns out that he is using markers to color himself, not paint. Apparently, one of the kids started coloring their bodies with the markers and all of the other kids followed suit. (The question remains: was it my child that started the trend? Although Will had never colored on his legs or clothing before, he does like to color on his hands, so there is a possibility that he could be the culprit!) We also got the news that the day before (Tuesday) a child from Will’s class got a broken arm during school. Accidents happen, but around here these days, accidents make everyone very nervous… we currently have no trauma center in the city. Thankfully, Children’s hospital is near by and does have an emergency department.

During the day, the kids play outside, color, use various toys in the room (with emphasis on putting things away when they are done), read stories in their “circle,” and sing to songs. They get a snack around 10 with water (in regular cups, not sippy cups) and are given juice with lunch. At 11:30, the half-day kids get picked up while the remaining kids have lunch. After lunch (around noon), they lay down in cots for a nap. Nancy was impressed at how Will knew exactly what cot was his and how quickly he laid down and went off to sleep… sound sleep, for two hours. They wake up around 2, have a diaper change, and get ready for parents’ pick up at 2:30. That’s his day!

Then he comes home and is a total monkey!