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Birthday Pool Party Fiasco
By Brooke Hadley
Several months before my son turned a year old, I began to get excited, and I decided on a pool party. Two weeks before, I hand-delivered 20 invitations. The day of the big celebration I rushed to the store to do some last-minute damage to my debit account. Three hours before, I put my son in his crib so he could refresh. I planned for many things to occur that day, but what I did not plan for was a complete and total disaster.
Instead of taking a nap, my son accidentally wedged his leg in between the bars, and after crying for several minutes it upset him so badly that he refused to sleep. He attended his long-awaited birthday at 3 p.m., and by that point, he decided he might want that nap after all.
Right as the party started, my best friend showed up with her mom and son to announce that she would soon divorce her husband so she could only stay a few minutes. While at the pool, her son decided to jump in, even though no one else expected that he would swim that day. His grandma jumped in after to grab him from the bottom of the pool. They left directly after.
Deciding to make the best of this chaotic day, I announced that Skylar would open presents. This part had particularly excited me because all the presents were wrapped with care in brightly colored paper way in advance. After watching my friend's son tear into his presents at his first birthday, I awaited patiently, camera in hand. Sky's need for that nap kept him uninterested, and in the end, it was his Aunt Lizzy who unwrapped them all.
Not to worry, what kid does not go crazy for cake, especially one that took much planning to ensure that it matched the theme? Well, on that particular day, Skylar rejected it and whined to get up from his seat immediately.
In the end, the party took tons of energy and tons of breath to blow up all those blue balloons. It took longer to decorate and undecorated than to celebrate. I do not think he realized much of what was going on. Who knows. Maybe he did and pool parties just were not his thing. How was I supposed to know? I asked him what type of party he wanted, and he just stared at me. Well, there is always next year.