It's My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To

So last night's mini-birthday party for Jarrah and Joy was an unqualified success. Big shout-out to Mary for coming over early and helping me make soup and grate a whole mess of potatoes for the latkes. The brisket had been merrily simmering away since early morning. David facilitated the festive atmosphere by hooking up my Ipod to some speakers in the living room, creating what I called the "Smoke-Free Dance Party," a joke that was a lot funnier in the '80s. ;) By the time the Fortune Cookies started arriving at 6:00, the wine was chilled, the tunes were pumping, and the latkes were sizzling on the grill. Paul played an important role by taping pictures of the girls to the tops of rhinestone crowns that proclaimed "Princess for the Day," which Mary and I wore later in the evening. Highlights were a rousing game of dreidl, frequently punctuated by shouts of "Ante up!" and a disco interlude that included me, Beth, Grace and Julianna (who's six) breaking in Jarrah's new tricycle. :) Melissa and Bill brought amazing jelly donuts and Grace baked a scrumptious lemon cake, but the piece de resistance was the fluffy, pink birthday cake that Mary brought, topped with two candles, one for each of our daughter's first year. I did get a bit of a lump in my throat when we sang "Happy Birthday," but only because I was happy. It was so wonderful to have all that love in one house, and while I can't tell you what I wished for, I think you could guess.

Today I braved BRU with Mary and Jennifer, intending to get every last item on my list, including disposable fast-flow nipples, a folding potty seat, a Pack N' Play, and more. It was quite satisfying except the part where I was supposed to be triumphantly bagging our Grace Metrolite stroller at last, and on sale to boot, only to be told they were discontinued and replaced with something called the Graco Lindsey, all pink and ruffled, and which, despite his highly-evolved masculinity, I can't imagine David pushing around. I found another stroller I liked, a Peg Perego, but at $400 (ack!) the parking brake is definitely ON. Time to do some on-line searching.

I've been doing quite a bit of reading in my toddler books (weird that I'm somehow able to flip cavalierly (word?) past everything that says "0-12 months") and absorbing a lot (get it? diaper humor! :)) about potty training, fussy eating, tantrums and intellectual stimulation. While I am a researcher by nature, I do have a whisper of doubt that any of this stuff will apply to Jarrah, or, if it does, that I'll be able to implement the advice successfully. I think I just need to work on flexibility--there's that word again.