LoveBug's birthday celebrations have always been a challenge for us because he often became overstimulated and acted out in some way causing us to dramatically change our plans if not put off the party entirely for a few days, but we were determined for this year to be different.
For one we are now post-adoption and the sense of permanency really resonates with this little one. We still have our moments of testing to see if we will really love him forever no matter what (we will save that for another blog topic), but deep down he knows that forever is FOREVER bound by the promise our family made to him before the judge in court, but also before God with our Adoption Dedication Ceremony (yet another blog topic to cover). Add to that simply knowing him longer and understanding his behavior better and knowing what works and what does not work to avoid over stimulation. It turns out that the best answer to the "What to do to celebrate LoveBug's Birthday?" questions is to have a surprise birthday party. Not just your typical surprise party that he walks into, but a full on day of surprises with only Mom and Dad knowing what happens next.
We decided to catch him by surprise by celebrating before his actual calendar birthday by a few days. Sunday morning we sent the kids out to the car to get buckled in for the drive to church. My darling husband went out to run the safety inspection (all buckled up and ready to go) while I grabbed the gift bags and cake (purchased on Saturday and kept in the 2nd refrigerator over night) and arranged everything on the table for all to see when we got back home. (They thought there was a "birthday fairy" - too cute!). After church on Sunday we loaded the kids into the car to run errands. We had a few typical sibling "issues" along the way, so we decided to walk around the mall long enough to let everyone earn back their lost points by showing us they could each make appropriate choices. Then we turned the corner and found ourselves in front of lunar golf.
What is lunar golf?? Well, it is glow in the dark putt-putt golf, of course. If you have never played then you are seriously missing out on some great fun. LoveBug actually made a hole-in-one making his birthday celebration even more fun. After we finished our game we returned home for cake and gifts.
One his actual calendar birthday his class had a field trip to a local railroad museum and I was lucky enough to be able to join them as a chaperone, so we were able to spend all day together. We sat next to one another on the bus playing games on my phone and then shared our lunch with one another in an old rail car outfitted for parties. Next, the school bus took us all back to school and LoveBug handed out mini-cupcakes to all of his classmates to celebrate while they sang Happy Birthday to him. It was a stellar day and FINALLY a successful birthday party.
Most importantly he was beaming by the end of the day and looked like he was completely full of love. What more could a mother ask for her child on his special day?
For one we are now post-adoption and the sense of permanency really resonates with this little one. We still have our moments of testing to see if we will really love him forever no matter what (we will save that for another blog topic), but deep down he knows that forever is FOREVER bound by the promise our family made to him before the judge in court, but also before God with our Adoption Dedication Ceremony (yet another blog topic to cover). Add to that simply knowing him longer and understanding his behavior better and knowing what works and what does not work to avoid over stimulation. It turns out that the best answer to the "What to do to celebrate LoveBug's Birthday?" questions is to have a surprise birthday party. Not just your typical surprise party that he walks into, but a full on day of surprises with only Mom and Dad knowing what happens next.
We decided to catch him by surprise by celebrating before his actual calendar birthday by a few days. Sunday morning we sent the kids out to the car to get buckled in for the drive to church. My darling husband went out to run the safety inspection (all buckled up and ready to go) while I grabbed the gift bags and cake (purchased on Saturday and kept in the 2nd refrigerator over night) and arranged everything on the table for all to see when we got back home. (They thought there was a "birthday fairy" - too cute!). After church on Sunday we loaded the kids into the car to run errands. We had a few typical sibling "issues" along the way, so we decided to walk around the mall long enough to let everyone earn back their lost points by showing us they could each make appropriate choices. Then we turned the corner and found ourselves in front of lunar golf.
What is lunar golf?? Well, it is glow in the dark putt-putt golf, of course. If you have never played then you are seriously missing out on some great fun. LoveBug actually made a hole-in-one making his birthday celebration even more fun. After we finished our game we returned home for cake and gifts.
One his actual calendar birthday his class had a field trip to a local railroad museum and I was lucky enough to be able to join them as a chaperone, so we were able to spend all day together. We sat next to one another on the bus playing games on my phone and then shared our lunch with one another in an old rail car outfitted for parties. Next, the school bus took us all back to school and LoveBug handed out mini-cupcakes to all of his classmates to celebrate while they sang Happy Birthday to him. It was a stellar day and FINALLY a successful birthday party.
Most importantly he was beaming by the end of the day and looked like he was completely full of love. What more could a mother ask for her child on his special day?
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