Monday, August 23, 2010

Owen's Birthday Party...



It's been an overwhelming whirlwind of a birthday weekend for our family. Friday was Owen's fourth birthday, and his last day at the DOL daycare. Owen of course seemed fine with it all, but for us parents it was quite emotional, since he's been at the DOL daycare with the same core group of friends since they were all infants. Elaine is particularly sad that her little boy won't be right downstairs from her office anymore, and when she's down nursing or visiting Nora, she'll miss the excited voices of Owen's friends in the hallway yelling for Owen to come quick and see his Mommy and baby sister.

To make the day extra special (insert sarcasm) for Owen, he had to go to the doctor's office the morning of his birthday for a checkup and three shots. The unfortunate timing was dictated by having to be four years old to get his next round of vaccinations, and DCPS requiring he have his vaccinations before school started on Monday. After plenty of screaming at the doctor's office, he seemed to be fine for the rest of the day at DOL, enjoyed his party, and cheerfully said his goodbyes to all of his teachers and friends. That night though, he had a bit of a fever and was even too tired for ice cream cake.

By Saturday morning our little boy had rallied, and he was ready for his real birthday party. We drove up to Mom Mom and Grandpa Don's house after lunch, and Owen showed off his favorite birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy, a Washington Nationals batting helmet and a Josh Willingham t-shirt, perfect for playing backyard baseball in.

As if a weekend filled with Owen's birthday, his last day at DOL, and getting ready for his first day of school wasn't packed enough, while we were at Mom Mom's we got a call from Peabody Elementary School telling us they had a spot for Owen. Peabody was one of our top choices (it's part of the Capitol Hill Cluster School, we have many friends and neighbors who have sent their kids there and given the school glowing reviews, and it's right by Stanton Park on Elaine's walk to work), but we were so far down on the waiting list that we had written off our chances of getting in and enrolled Owen in Ludlow Taylor instead. Owen was really excited about Ludlow Taylor (they have a baseball field on campus), we'd been doing a regular Sunday evening playdate with other Ludlow Taylor families, and Elaine had already been to a few PTA meetings, so we weren't ready to say yes to Peabody immediately and instead asked to be able to sleep on it and get back to them in the morning. The upshot of course was that we'd spend Owen's birthday party agonizing over the decision.

With our minds racing about what school to send Owen to on Monday, we drove over to the Little Gym for his birthday party. Owen was a bit overwhelmed by everything and was feeling a bit shy at first (hard to blame him really with everything going on), but he eventually warmed up to everything and had a great time at his party. As much fun as he had running around in the gym, his favorite part of the party was showing off his Washington Nationals cake. Baseball really is the best in the eyes of our four year old.

After the party we went back to Mom Mom's for bison burgers and more cake (this time Mom Mom's delicious banana cake). He also opened his present from Mom Mom and Grandpa Don, a new pair of bright yellow boots, and a yellow raincoat to go with them.

We agonized over the school decision all night, but after sleeping on it we were leaning heavily toward Peabody, even if that meant breaking up with Ludlow Taylor. The last thing to do was to convince Owen that this was a good thing. Sunday morning was gray and rainy, so Owen donned his new yellow boots and raincoat and we went over to Peabody to check out the playground. By the time we got there the rain had let up and Owen started to get excited about the beautiful playground. Some other parents were there working in the gardens, and Owen helped out raking some mulch, then he joined the other kids playing "Haiti Firefighter Earthquake Rescue Squad." With Owen seeming more at ease with the idea of Peabody, we called and officially accepted the spot for Owen. Then the assistant principal came out to the playground to welcome us to the school and give us all the forms we needed.

Exhausted from everything about the weekend, we went home so Nora could have a nice long nap, then took Brad and Marlo up on the offer to join them for a lovely evening at the pool. Just what we needed to relax on our last real day of summer.

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(click here to see all the birthday pictures)
(click here to see all the Peabody pictures)

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