Petey's 6th birthday party
Sep. 23rd, 2006 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizzybennetI know I am sooo far behind on emailing my loved ones as well as writing letters to those with no email. I promise I will get caught up asap.
For now,
We celebrated Petey's birthday earlier, as his actual birthday falls very close to the Chinese National holiday. It turns out many, many people travel during the holiday week, including most of the people he wanted to invite to his party. Thus we had it tonight instead. Earlier this week as a home school project, we made a pinata. We didn't make a paper mache (sp?) pinata, but instead we made a trap door type. Petey wanted this type and they are much safer (especially when you have a room full of boys! You definitely do not want to give them a stick and tell them to start hitting things!) We just used a box and cut a flap in the bottom. Next, we attached several strings to the bottom, only one of which will pull the door open. The boys helped me paint it in a beautiful sea creature theme. It turned out lovely, if I do say so myself :) We also had water balloons at the party. We invited a lot of grown up friends--Chris' fellow employees that live in our complex. Charlie (our lone Chinese friend), Jay and Eli (the church kids) came. They had so much fun together.
The cake was so humongous!! That was Chris' doing. I went to the bakery yesterday to order the cake and I couldn't communicate with the cashier. I thought I could just point to the cake I wanted and she take it out of the case and sell it to me, but it turned out I had to order it and pick it up later. Those cakes in the case were display only. I called Chris on his cell phone and then handed the phone to the bakery cashier. I've found this is a very easy way to get things done, and Chris doesn't complain (He awesome that way.) When she told him that I had ordered the 10 inch cake, he told her we needed a 12 inch instead. He wasn't there to see the sizes, he had no idea that he was ordering a cake the size of a bicycle wheel (well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration...) Although the cake was beautiful (as they all are here) it didn't taste all that good. Ah well, at least we know not to go back there.
Petey was on a huge emotional roller coaster for the whole party. He'd be laughing his head off at something funny someone did with a balloon and then a moment later he'd be crying because someone else did the same exact thing with a balloon. Poor guy. It can be so hard on kids to anticipate a party all day long and then when it finally gets here they are just so wound up. He did have a good time though. Some one gave him a Chinese flute made out of a gourd. It's actually pretty difficult to play, and the kids can really only manage one note. But they don't care, they blow and blow.....and blow. I did figure out how to play "mary had a little lamb" and "yankee doodle" though. I guess all those years in band still come in handy :)
Grandma Margaret's birthday package also arrived today. Petey was so tickled to open it up and he LOVES the sea creatures and book. He's so into sea creatures right now. He really wanted an anglerfish for his birthday (you know, those deep sea fish with the light dangling down and the huge fangs? That's his very favorite.) but I explained to him that anglerfish can't live in aquariums because they have to be were the water is very, very deep. He understood and accepted that answer without an argument. Sometimes I wonder where this kid comes from. Tonight when he blew out his candles, he announced his wish outloud "I wish I were an electric eel. Oh wait, I mean I wish I were a dolphin." What if his wish came true? What would I do with a dolphin son? Ok, now I'm just getting silly. I need to wrap this up.
But before I do, let me journal one more Petey moment that I neglected to share when it initially took place. At the time, I thought it was a little to sad to write down, but as time has gone on, it's become quite hilarious. This happened when we were still living in Tucson. Petey had a bowl of ice cream and he was sitting at the table eating it. Suddenly he burst in tears and started howling bloody murder. "What! What's wrong?" I asked him. "Brain freeze!" he cried as he clutched his little forehead. He stopped crying as suddenly as he started, when the brain freeze left. I couldn't blame him for crying...they really are a horrible experience and I think that may have been his first one.
Ok, I want to write one more Petey story. Their Chinese tutor has been working on teaching the kids their numbers. They learned the word for turtle a couple weeks ago, and it is one of those words that really stuck with Petey. Turtle is "Wu gui". Here are the Chinese numbers up to six: Yi, Ar, San, Su, Wu, Liu." You see that number 5 is the same as the first part of turtle? Petey kept saying "Yi, ar, san, su, wu gui." He really thought he was counting which made it even more amusing. So he was saying "1, 2, 3, 4 turtle" I'm sure the humor isn't coming across here as it did in the moment, but his Chinese tutor thought it was hilarious.
For now,
We celebrated Petey's birthday earlier, as his actual birthday falls very close to the Chinese National holiday. It turns out many, many people travel during the holiday week, including most of the people he wanted to invite to his party. Thus we had it tonight instead. Earlier this week as a home school project, we made a pinata. We didn't make a paper mache (sp?) pinata, but instead we made a trap door type. Petey wanted this type and they are much safer (especially when you have a room full of boys! You definitely do not want to give them a stick and tell them to start hitting things!) We just used a box and cut a flap in the bottom. Next, we attached several strings to the bottom, only one of which will pull the door open. The boys helped me paint it in a beautiful sea creature theme. It turned out lovely, if I do say so myself :) We also had water balloons at the party. We invited a lot of grown up friends--Chris' fellow employees that live in our complex. Charlie (our lone Chinese friend), Jay and Eli (the church kids) came. They had so much fun together.
The cake was so humongous!! That was Chris' doing. I went to the bakery yesterday to order the cake and I couldn't communicate with the cashier. I thought I could just point to the cake I wanted and she take it out of the case and sell it to me, but it turned out I had to order it and pick it up later. Those cakes in the case were display only. I called Chris on his cell phone and then handed the phone to the bakery cashier. I've found this is a very easy way to get things done, and Chris doesn't complain (He awesome that way.) When she told him that I had ordered the 10 inch cake, he told her we needed a 12 inch instead. He wasn't there to see the sizes, he had no idea that he was ordering a cake the size of a bicycle wheel (well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration...) Although the cake was beautiful (as they all are here) it didn't taste all that good. Ah well, at least we know not to go back there.
Petey was on a huge emotional roller coaster for the whole party. He'd be laughing his head off at something funny someone did with a balloon and then a moment later he'd be crying because someone else did the same exact thing with a balloon. Poor guy. It can be so hard on kids to anticipate a party all day long and then when it finally gets here they are just so wound up. He did have a good time though. Some one gave him a Chinese flute made out of a gourd. It's actually pretty difficult to play, and the kids can really only manage one note. But they don't care, they blow and blow.....and blow. I did figure out how to play "mary had a little lamb" and "yankee doodle" though. I guess all those years in band still come in handy :)
Grandma Margaret's birthday package also arrived today. Petey was so tickled to open it up and he LOVES the sea creatures and book. He's so into sea creatures right now. He really wanted an anglerfish for his birthday (you know, those deep sea fish with the light dangling down and the huge fangs? That's his very favorite.) but I explained to him that anglerfish can't live in aquariums because they have to be were the water is very, very deep. He understood and accepted that answer without an argument. Sometimes I wonder where this kid comes from. Tonight when he blew out his candles, he announced his wish outloud "I wish I were an electric eel. Oh wait, I mean I wish I were a dolphin." What if his wish came true? What would I do with a dolphin son? Ok, now I'm just getting silly. I need to wrap this up.
But before I do, let me journal one more Petey moment that I neglected to share when it initially took place. At the time, I thought it was a little to sad to write down, but as time has gone on, it's become quite hilarious. This happened when we were still living in Tucson. Petey had a bowl of ice cream and he was sitting at the table eating it. Suddenly he burst in tears and started howling bloody murder. "What! What's wrong?" I asked him. "Brain freeze!" he cried as he clutched his little forehead. He stopped crying as suddenly as he started, when the brain freeze left. I couldn't blame him for crying...they really are a horrible experience and I think that may have been his first one.
Ok, I want to write one more Petey story. Their Chinese tutor has been working on teaching the kids their numbers. They learned the word for turtle a couple weeks ago, and it is one of those words that really stuck with Petey. Turtle is "Wu gui". Here are the Chinese numbers up to six: Yi, Ar, San, Su, Wu, Liu." You see that number 5 is the same as the first part of turtle? Petey kept saying "Yi, ar, san, su, wu gui." He really thought he was counting which made it even more amusing. So he was saying "1, 2, 3, 4 turtle" I'm sure the humor isn't coming across here as it did in the moment, but his Chinese tutor thought it was hilarious.
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Date: 2006-09-23 07:18 pm (UTC)