March Madness
The following was written on March 18:Last Monday, Mirei stopped being a baby and started "sleep training." This is a big milestone for our children - but an even bigger one for the parents. It means that we get to have a night life again! The first night, on Monday, she went to bed in 10 minutes. The second night, she stayed awake for almost 45 minutes. The third night, she took about 15 minutes. Wami and I are going crazy catching up on Lost episodes to celebrate. :) Wami's still on season 3.
Taisei celebrated his birthday early this year due to scheduling. Yes, at 3 years old, the kids are starting to be busy with ski lessons, ballet lessons, gymnastics, and other things already. Crazy! This year, we borrowed a theme from our friend's blog. (Check it out if you're bored - she's the up and coming Martha Stuart, minus the craziness and the jail time.) The theme: LEGOS! It was perfect because Taisei had been really into a giant box of hand-me-down Legos lately. It's definitely way better than other toys because you can take a sandwich bag of Legos and he can entertain himself for a long time. His other favorite pastime is drawing. Anyway, I digress. We entertained all his Japanese pre-school buddies (no parents) for 2 and a half hours, fully expecting the parents to have a date and go out for lunch.
Wami practiced a new cake recipe for her Lego cake and Mirei got to celebrate a 4 month birthday
Admire the decorations while Taisei awaits the arrival of his preschool friends.
Games and fun
Lunch time
My facial expression is saying "Taisei, please don't spit on the cake!"
Gift time is understandably one of Taisei's favorite parts of the party. I'm really torn about the gifts. If I could do it over, at Taisei's 3-year-old party, I would definitely have said "NO GIFTS." I feel like we have set a bad precedent since Taisei's one of the oldest kids. At least at this age, the other kids understand that the gifts are for one person only. Last year, kids were crying because they didn't get to take their gifts back home. We tried to offset that this time by giving each child a nice bag of party favors whenever Taisei opened one of the gifts. But they were definitely old enough to understand this time. What bothers me: First of all, by normal policies in our home, everything has to be earned. Almost everything we have always done for Taisei or given to him, we have tried to make a point that it must be earned. It's the same way we never give Hiro a treat unless he does something right first whether it's a trick or some kind of obedience. Second, having a party should be about enjoying time with friends and not about gaining material possessions. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm very open. For those that came, thank you for your generous gifts! We're trying to make sure that Taisei is grateful for each and every one. Please have a party so we can return the favor! :)
Overall, I think the party was pretty successful. There was only two episodes of crying and neither one was caused by me or Taisei - PHEW! :D And the crying didn't last long. By the way, I was surprised to find that one or two kids were scared of me! Usually kids like me. Oh well. You can't win them all. And there's always one or two scared of Hiro as well. Taisei had a great time, although he was more interested in hanging out with the older kids than the kids his age. I guess some things don't change. We're just glad that the kids all seemed to have a great time.
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8 comment(s):
Wow, very impressive as usual. I, myself, am thinking of Cole's birthday party. Who is your "blog friend" who has great idea??? You have way too many friends!! lol. Anyway, Taisei's party looks awesome, and kids are so cute. I think just being adult man, some kids are scared of you. Sorry, Jerin =)
By
kaori, at
4/04/2010 2:56 PM
I understand your feelings about gifts. We do want Isaac to learn to earn and work for things, but then it's his birthday and we want him to know that just being him makes him deserve something special. But too many gifts if overboard too. We've decided to change up birthdays every year, one will be a party with gifts and friends, another will be just family and a big dinner and cake, then another is a special 'date' with mom and dad (no other kids) and we do just what the b-day kid wants for a few hours (which might included taking them out for lunch on their b-day even if they're in school). It's worked well for some friends of ours and you're never locked into anything especially when things get too crazy to do a huge party.
By
F Montierth, at
4/04/2010 6:33 PM
Happy belated birthday to Taisei! I can't believe he is this big already!
Jerin, you know how you don't age? (either you don't know how to age or you don't remember to age) Pretty soon Taisei is going to catch up and you two will look like brothers. :)
By
Unknown, at
4/04/2010 8:37 PM
cool. we'd also like to know who the B-day theme party planner is, or her blog at least, as Kai's B-day is coming up, too.
great cake idea!
By
Leasha, at
4/05/2010 7:25 PM
I remember Christmas when Adele was 3 - she kept asking for more presents. So this year at Christmas, I drilled it into her that it's not about presents, and that just getting a few is a big deal. So after she had just gotten a few, she was perfectly happy, and was amazed that she got even more. And that was before Aaron and I even gave her anything. We ended up saving the "big" present we got her and using it for Easter this year. And like your friends, we don't do parties all the time anymore. For her 3rd we had a huge princess party, but for 4, we just said her present was a museum membership. We didn't get her anything but that pass, and we didn't do a party. She was very happy with going to the museum and getting a couple gifts from grandparents. For her 5th birthday she wants to go camping! So I think spacing out birthday parties so they don't happen every year is what we'll do. I haven't figured out our plan, but I have some friends that do every other year, and some friends that do only the big years, and they choose something like "4, 8, 12, 16).
Cool lego cake. Nice TV.
By
Aaron and Emily, at
4/05/2010 7:46 PM
Hey guys, our friend, Stephanie, is not really a specialist in birthday parties - she's a specialist in everything domestic. Check her out here: http://www.stephmodo.com/
Here's her lego party: http://www.stephmodo.com/2009/12/lego-birthday-party.html
By
Jerin, at
4/05/2010 9:43 PM
Looks like a fun party. I'm impressed. Taisei is such a sweet kid. I think just the fact that you worry about it is going to be make a big difference.
By
Esther, at
4/05/2010 11:25 PM
Now I have to add that today, Adele asked if she could have a girl pirate party. With a pirate cake. I asked about whether she still wanted to camp for her birthday, and she said she wanted to have the pirate party while we camped, WITH her cousins. Tall order. And her birthday isn't even for half a year. She thinks about it, and about Halloween, alot. (She has told me about 5 different things she wants to be next Halloween this past week).
By
Aaron and Emily, at
4/07/2010 10:17 PM
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