Adlai turned one this week. Twelve under-two-year-olds crowded into our terrace house for a ‘planes, trains, and automobiles’ themed party. None of the babies/toddlers seemed to notice that I’d come as John Candy, but I didn’t let that dampen the party atmosphere.
The party rocked for about two hours, fitting nicely between naps. There were balloons, which I understand with a bunch of teething babies is a high risk strategy, but all made it through the party. There was food, much of which was suitable for babies and a whole load of paper airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Many of these paper airplanes escaped the post party clean up and are still hanging around the house. My Dad got surprisingly into the idea of building paper airplanes and looked up designs on the internet. We had approximately ten different plane designs and one helicopter. Some were more successful flyers than others, but all looked adequate when hung from a piece of string.
Adlai seemed to take the party in his stride and gratefully received a whole bunch of gifts…he really racked up. The balloons have been Adlai’s main post-party attraction and surprisingly few have popped on him. When one does, it doesn’t seem to put him off the pastime of chasing balloons around the room. One of his favourite things to say at the moment is ‘bo’.. most of the time this is accompanied with one figure point towards a balloon.
The clichés are true. My son’s first year of life does seem to have passed quickly, but at the same time I can’t remember what life was like before he arrived.
