"We'll eat you up. We love you so." -- Where the Wild Things Are. Maurice Sendak

We had Max's one year birthday party on Saturday, August 20th at 3:00 (strategically timed to be right after naptime and well before dinnertime for the least possible likelihood of a meltdown). I have been to some majorly extravagent 1st birthday parties and while they were great, we opted to go more low-key. Only family, just snacks and cake, and no crazy theme. Well, wait a minute. Ok, I had a theme, after swearing that I would not go to such trouble. But being that Max is, well, Max...and one of my favorite childhood books was "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak (where Max is the main character), I just couldn't resist. (Incidentally, Max has copies of the book in both English and German. I hope it will be one of his favorites, too.)

Upon arrival, I had all the guests sign this picture that was taken from the party invitation. I thought it would be cute to put this up somewhere in Max's room and to keep as a memento from his 1st birthday party.



The key element of the birthday party is, of course, the cake. It is tradition in the Eddy family for the one year old to get his/her very own teddy bear cake. Here I am, just a few years back, enjoying my bear cake.

(There is no question where Max gets his lack-of-hair gene, eh?)

And here is Nathanael a year and a half ago, enjoying his very own bear cake:

(Sadly, I don't have Sam's 1 year birthday pictures on this computer...so just picture the same cake with Sam sitting in front of it, also with frosting all over his face. Ok.)

And somehow, it has also become tradition for the Dad to bake the teddy bear cake (starting with the Rogers boys; let's not get crazy and assume that Rob Eddy baked a cake). So, the night before the party, Chris spent a couple of hours baking not one but TWO teddy bear cakes. Why two you ask? Well, traditionally, there was only one, for the birthday kid to tear into. But the cake was so big that there's no way a one-year-old could consume the whole thing (well, Max wasn't given a shot...I'm pretty sure he could have done it). Anyway, after the birthday kid had munched all over it, you were generally left with something that looked like....well, like a kid had licked and drooled all over it. And some people are squemish about eating a cake that looks like that. So, we came up with the perfect solution. I bought the exact same cake mold in miniature! So the mini cake would be for Max and the big cake for everyone else.

Saturday morning, after a couple more hours of piping frosting and some creative input by myself regarding marshmallow teeth, we had two awesome cakes. They started off like this



and when Chris was done with his decorating magic, we had 2 "Wild Things" hiding out in our fridge!!

(We also had well over half a sheet cake left over from our actual birthdays so rest assured, there would be NO shortage of cake at this party!)

In my casual online researching of fun "Where the Wild Things Are" birthday parties I came across an AWESOME party someone threw for their 2 year old, complete with Wild Thing cutouts to stand in for pictures, costumes for the party and an actual life-sized (for a one-year old) boat just like Max had in the book.

The parents had included step by step instructions and pictures of how they made the boat and I don't know what I was smoking the day I found this site but I decided, "I can do that! Max should have a boat for his birthday party!"

So, after WEEKS of building in half-hour to one-hour (maximum) increments during naptime, my Max had his very own boat too!

Now, does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do with this boat now that the party is over??? I can't bear to destroy it after all the work I put into it, but it's just so BIG! And let's face it, it's not every day you need a sailboat.

Of course Max had to play the part for his party. He had a unique take on Max's wolf suit. Let's be real; when it's 90+ degrees outside, it's a little hot for this sort of getup:

So we went for a more summery version, but he did have wolf feet and a tail! And, the tail lasted for the entire party - that was a shock!

Pretty soon I discovered that PopPop was experiencing some major confusion over the boat and the outfit. And then I made shocking discovery: he had never read the book!!! Max was especially devastated by this.

I'm not sure how PopPop managed to make it through 4 kids without ever having read it, but apparently this was the case. This problem was very easy to rectify, though...we just started off the party with a reading of "Where the Wild Things Are." I was actually really excited about this because when I was little I always wanted to be a teacher because I thought it would be so fun to read books to little kids while holding them up so the kids could see the pictures. So that's just what I did. And it was fun! Look at my rapt audience!

After PopPop was educated on the party theme, we were able to continue. Max and Sam had to attend to some business on their smart phones (I think they might have been discussing their portfolios, but I'm not positive),

but once they were done with that, we were ready to open gifts. I had hoped that Max would really tear into the gifts, because I think it's fun to watch kids rip into the wrapping paper and so on...but Max was more into chewing on the gifts after they were opened. Thanks to all for the wonderful gifts! He really and truly loves all of them and has already spent hours playing with his new stuff. It's funny how even a one year old prefers playing with the new toys versus the ones that have been around for a while!

Sam and Nathanael were quick to demonstrate proper technique with each of the toys. Sam took a special liking to the ice cream truck that Chris and I gave Max..in fact, he tried desperately to sell us all ice cream throughout Max's cake-eating demonstration. I'm not sure if he sold any or not, but I did notice that he was first trying to sell it for $1 but before long he was offering it up for "1 coin, ANY coin!" Anyway, after some play time we were able to move on to the main event: CAKE.

First, Max had to don his "King of the Wild Things" crown; and, equally importantly, he had to don his "King of the Messy Things" garbage bag.

And then he dug right in. No hesitation! To be fair, he DID have a practice cake on his actual birthday, but I think he just has really natural eating skills.  Well-honed eating skills, you might say. 

Look how he thoughtfully devised a plan of attack:

Then, a tentative taste:

And then, all IN.

(Apparently he was "nursing" on the horn in the above picture. Perhaps he wasn't really ready to wean?)

I like the "war paint" on his nose in this one.

Everybody thought it was funny how he ate the cake with his feet propped up, like he was getting leverage to really dig in there. He actually eats all his meals like this.

We interrupt this cake eating demonstration to bring you: The Ice Cream Man! Does anybody want anything? It only costs one coin...ANY coin!!

In what seemed like no time we had reached Total. Cake. Destruction.

The decontamination unit had to be called in after that!

Then the rest of the party goers had cake, and then the boys engaged in a cake/frosting/sugar fueled "Wild Rumpus" with all the new toys, and then, before we knew it, it was time for Max to sail back "almost over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night " of his own room to his own bed, where he slept the deep and happy sleep of a brand new one year old!

The End.

Anything BUT Average

The day after Max's birthday, we took a trip the the doctor for his one year checkup. I had been dreading this for WEEKS. The thought of him getting his shots was enough to bring me almost to tears. Seriously, I have problems. Thank goodness Chris is about 100% more stable than I am, and was able to go with us.

I've been dying to know what his measurements were and where he was on the "graph". However, as Chris and I discussed, the only measurement that is somewhat reliable in this equation is the weight. The manual measurements (height and head circumference) are less than scientific. The nurse tries to hold down Mr. Wriggles on the exam table, and then makes a mark somewhere in the vicinity of his feet and somewhere in the vicinity of his head. And then she tries to measure his head as he's thrashing it back and forth. So, I find these numbers to be an approximation at best.

Here they are:
Weight: 20 lb 2 oz - 47%
Height 30" - 57%
Head - don't remember the number, but it was 48%

So, as the doctor said...all around average. What? Not my boy! (The doctor did do a MUCH MORE scientific computation for Max's future, full-grown height which involved adding some inches to my height and averaging it with Chris's and determined that Max will probably be between 5'7" and 5'10 1/2" ... that's quite a range and 5'7" is quite short, but the doctor reminded us that "most movie stars and men who are considered by many to be good looking are pretty short". Thanks, that definitely makes me feel much better!)

So we also discussed his development and what he should be doing or getting close to doing at this point.
Talking: He should have 2 or 3 words like MaMa, Dada, etc...well, he has Uh Oh, which he has had since he was 6 months. But, babbling up a storm so the doc said no problem.
Walking: He should be "working on it" and he is - he zooms all around the house with push toys. I guess we haven't really spent a lot of time trying to get him to take any steps. I think he took one today when I tried with him. I have made a prediction that it will happen this week, so we'll see...
Other: The doc was impressed with Max's outgoing nature and said he didn't see any hints of "stranger anxiety", which is common at this age.

I can't remember what else we talked about other than Chris and the doc having a long discussion about the iPad.
And then, it was time .... for the vaccines. He was to get Chickenpox, MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella), and Hepatitis A; one in the leg, and one in each arm. Nothing like spreading the shots out for maximum pain! I don't really know what happened because I was hiding behind some papers while Chris held Max down on the table, but I heard major crying and I did not like it. But, shortly thereafter, Max was able to pick out a toy (a little rubber ducky dressed like a green beret) and all was forgotten. It was remembered for the rest of the day, however, as Max insisted on spending our shopping trip to Walmart shrieking and whining. Poor guy.

But, he recovered sufficiently enough to enjoy his birthday party the following day. And here is a preview of how that went:

Happy Birthday to ... US!

Today is my little Maximilian's birthday. One year old - 365 days have passed since I was handed a sweet little bundle on my 34th birthday. It seems like that was just a few days ago; at the same time, I can't imagine life without him and feel like I've known him forever. He was the greatest birthday gift ever and I (we) have cherished every single moment with him. I am honored to be this funny little guy's Mom and cannot wait to see where his future takes him. He is so funny, loving, and bull-headed! Just the perfect little package of a person! :)

We had a really great day today.It started off with a visit from Nathanael, who informed  me "We don't have any presents" to which I replied "Oh, buddy, that's ok" and he then quickly added "Where's the cake??" After he left, Max had his very first cup of cow's milk. He was a fan. Yay!!

 Then, Chris took a half day off work and we spent the afternoon at the Children's Museum. But on the way, we had to pull over downtown to take some pictures. These were taken at 2:42 PM, exactly one year to the minute after Max was born.

So, on to the Children's Museum...I'm not sure who had more fun, Chris or Max.

After we left there, Mimi and PopPop treated us to dinner at Milano's, and then we were joined by Mimi, PopPop, Sam, Natey, and Julie for cake at our house. Chris was so sweet to surprise me with this awesome cake!:

And, of course, Max had to have a cake too! (We decided this was his "trial run" for his party on Saturday).

 

And guess what?? My little foodie was a natural!!!

I think it was a great first birthday for Max. Just the beginning of many many more wonderful birthdays to come! (And I had a pretty great birthday too!)

Mmm, I love a baby that smells like frosting!

"What, is there something on my face?"