Wednesday, August 13, 2008

I Love My Little Weirdo

We attended Nicholas Allen's 5th birthday party on Monday night. It was a superhero theme, but we are notsomuch into costumes, so we just showed up as ourselves - super enough :) Let me preface this entire post by saying that Feeb did an awesome job with the party and just about every kid seemed to be having a raucous good time.

My little guy was completely overwhelmed. There were a lot more older kids than we anticipated and they were all in costumes (many with masks) all charging around, being loud and hitting one another with swords, light sabers, whips, you name it. Jack freaked out in his own little way. Not in the meltdown kind of way that normal 2 year olds do. But by going directly to - you guessed it - the doors.

We spent the majority of the party trying desperately to find a door to open and close to make everything in our world OK. At one point, the birthday boy - in complete Batman regalia, including mask and supercool wings - got right up in Jack's face and growled. Fantastically entertaining for a 5 year old. Jack went into shutdown mode. Poor little guy. At that point I felt like I was no longer doing my job as a mommy because Jack obviously didn't feel safe.

We stayed for about an hour - long enough to open and close every door on the first floor about a million times and scarf a few cheesy poofs, and then bid our friends adieu. He and Derek were by far the youngest kids at the party, so I guess his reactions were age-appropriate (although Frat Boy Ulrich was partying it up in the sandbox), but I still felt self-conscious that he should have been having a good time, running and laughing and playing with other kids.

I so admire Erin;s parenting style. She is so laid back and accepts her kids for who they are. I am still living by the "normal" rules - something I know I shouldn't be doing and, with Jack, i just CAN'T - for both of our well being. He's a sensitive kid. And that is OK. I just want him to be happy. I am thinking that may mean skipping a few birthday parties in the future.

2 comments:

naomic3 said...

OMG, I didn't know Nick growled at Jackster! I am SO SORRY! had I known I would've whipped his little butt and sent him upstairs.
Hey, the door thing is fine with us--let Jack turn to doors. I myself stand outside of the periphery and smoke cigarettes if I'm out of my comfort zone. In fact, I'm still thinking of starting Elliott smoking for that same reason. Anyway, you can teach Jack that sometimes it's OKAY to hit, especially if he is being assaulted by a sugar-crazed 5-year old. Smack 'em all, let God sort 'em out, because sometimes it's okay to take the law into your own hands rather than downplay your own emotions for the sake of getting along...

smarmygal said...

No sweat. No one should be punished for acting their age on their birthday! That's why we just hung out in less-populated areas.

Also, QUIT saying you are going to teach EJ to smoke, or I am going to report you to Children's Services. It isn;t enough that your doc THINKS you quit, so she kept you on Depro - even though you are still smoking - and that could lead to some seriously bad shit??? i am getting off of my soap box now. But put the smokes down and move them away from the toddler.