Quarantine Journals - Oliver’s Birthday Celebration, part I

Today was the day we decided to do Oliver's "birthday party."  Instead of sleeping a little late like I normally do, I woke up with Penny and we got to work decorating the house. She was super excited to help me put up all the decorations, and Richard had inflated the balloons and the dinosaurs the night before. Once we got everything decorated, we stepped out to check out the garden, and then Oliver was awake shortly after. Richard texted me that they were coming out, and I was able to take a video of him waking up to find the house decorated. He was really excited, and he kept saying "Awww, thank you guys!". He seems super psyched that it was his birthday and that he was having a birthday party, but is not happy about being 3. I don't know why. 

We incorporated his birthday into everything we did all day. We had a special family birthday breakfast, then we went outside for some birthday pool time. I had put some new boats in the pool, along with a new fishing set and fishing pole, and hooked up a new battery operated sprayer that was attached to their forte and spraying into the pool. He was so happy!! He absolutely loved the sprayer, and we got him to sit in his inter-tube like it was a ride, and Richard sent them round and round the pool and underneath the sprayer like a lazy river. They spent well over two hours playing out there, and then we came inside for his birthday lunch.  

While he was eating lunch, we FaceTime grandpa, and he got to chat with him while he was eating.  Grandpa had a party horn that he blew and yelled happy birthday, which was initially very exciting to Oliver, and then exceptionally devastating when he realized that I didn't have a noisemaker for him. He started sobbing, holding his face in his hands, and was pretty inconsolable for a little while. My dad was encouraging him to stop crying because it was going to ruin his birthday and make my dad sad, but I told Oliver that it was OK if you needed to cry, and I'm sorry that it was disappointing that I didn't have a noisemaker, and then of course I went on Amazon and bought some to be delivered tomorrow.

After he ate lunch, Oliver

and Penny went to go play in the gold curtains while Richard and my dad chatted. I took the opportunity to get the cake all set up, and then we called Oliver into the dining room so we could sing him happy birthday. He was super excited about the cake, and very excited about the topper, and absolutely ballistic about the candles. He was so excited about blowing out the candles that he didn't even wait for us to sing happy birthday. I'm glad that my dad was able to be there virtually, but I felt a deep, aching sadness when we got off of the call. I know he's been alone out there for a really long time, and we sure have missed him, and I can't imagine what it's like to see everybody that you want to be with and then go back to being at home alone. No one to talk to you, not much to do.

After lunch, Richard was going to take Oliver for a nap, but Oliver started sobbing that he wanted me. So I took him for his nap, which he fell asleep pretty quickly, and then when he woke up we opened up presents. He was really excited about unwrapping everything, and every single gift was absolutely precious to him.  He got a bath toy for his birthday, and he wanted to immediately go out and to the pool to play with it. But it was very hot, and I was kind of tired, so I suggested maybe we just stay in the air-conditioning and he could play with it in the bathtub. So he and Penny jumped in the bathtub to play with the new bath toys, and they had a lot of fun. I think they were in there for almost an hour when we called them out to have dinner and a movie.

We let Oliver pick what movie he wanted to watch, and he picked the new Scooby Doo movie. Richard made a special dinner of steak, green beans, and baked potatoes, and we ate them in front of the TV. After they had eaten a little bit, I brought out some Scooby snacks for them to enjoy with their movie.

All in all, I think he had a really great day. Hopefully it was busy enough to keep him distracted from the fact that it wasn't a typical birthday party, but he's also young enough that I'm not sure that he really knew the difference too much. He definitely misses my dad. We planned on saving some gifts for tomorrow, so he will open those up throughout the day. And I'm hoping that we can figure out a way to do some special activities. We also need to make a happy birthday banner that we can hold out the window when we drive by to cheer happy birthday for Gilberto.

We are talking about trying to go out to my dads house this weekend, and that's very exciting. We were hoping to be able to go out there next time and stay a few nights, but I realize there's no way for us to board Mosley anywhere without having to contact people, which would then put my dad at risk. So I think we might be screwed as far as an overnight stay unless I go without Richard. And I really don't want to juggle both the kids by myself.  

Anyway, that was our day! A super weird, disorienting birthday party at home without any friends or family, but we had enough going on that we could enjoy it without feeling too disappointed. Honestly, Oliver is glee over every single thing that we did was enough joy fuel to get me through the full week. He was so sweet and excited about everything, and that's what it's all about. We'll get to see our family and friends soon, when it's safe.