Birthday Parade

Even though some of the lockdown restrictions are being lifted, I did not feel like we were ready for a full-on birthday party. That was a bigger widening of our circle than was comfortable. Luckily a few weeks ago, our sweet neighbor had a birthday parade for her quarantine birthday, which Declan had found to be really cool. So when I pitched a birthday parade, he was totally on board. Hooray!

I had so much mom guilt over a canceled GR birthday party with his cousins (which was all he wanted) and a sorta friend party disguised as a parade. But honestly, I didn't need to. Dec was delightfully happy with everything. In fact, I think the parade was actually less overwhelming for him than a full-on party would have been. We have forgotten how to be around people, after all.

Birthday proper, we made lemon poke cake with a blueberry cream cheese filling - per his request. We also had a family Zoom birthday party, where grandmas and grandpas and aunties and cousins got to say hello, sing Happy Birthday, watch him blow out a [jar] candle (virtual party rookie!), and oooh and aaaah as he opened a couple presents. Then Auntie came down for dinner and cake - and brought laser tag as a birthday present. After steak tacos (again, his request) on the deck, we had a few exciting laser tag matches in the yard. And both Q and D tested out the new goalie pads that we gave him.

Saturday morning was the first soccer practice of the season. Dec came home red-faced and immediately told me that soccer was more work than hockey. There was a lot of running - and he loved every minute of it! While Q was at soccer practice and D and F were eating lunch, we heard a honking horn in the driveway. I told D his birthday surprise was here ... and he discovered Grandpa V had come down (with donuts!!) to be part of his birthday parade. He was SO happy!

It was a low-key "parade" and I had just told people to swing by between 1 and 2. Our sweet neighbor Mary did not approve of my lackadaisical approach - and organized the neighborhood into an actual parade, complete with honking and signs and cheering. Dec loved it - and also loved the more casual drop by visits from some of his favorite people. His buddy Andrew came and they tackled each other in a hug. His buddy Grayson came and they couldn't stop smiling. And of course, his bestie Jack (who is 16 now! HOW?) came - complete with a nerf gun that is almost as tall as D!

After the parade, we had cake and ice cream with his neighborhood friends and then they were off to play laser tag, beyblades, and who knows what else. Between soccer, cake/donuts, and lots of outside time, Saturday night showers were necessary! After everyone was tucked into bed, I texted Cheryl: "Turns out, throwing Not a Party is just as tiring as throwing a Party." Who knew!?!?

Even though birthday number Six looked different than we had expected (is anything in 2020 as expected?), it was a really special and memorable birthday. That's about all you can want for a milestone that requires adding a second hand to show how old you are!