Dear Henry: Your First Birthday Party

I know you’re not likely to remember your first birthday party, so I wanted to jot down some notes for you about how it went. You had fun! We spent time doing your favorite things: playing in the backyard, hanging out with Hoss, and eating.

We had seven guests: Grafton (who is one month older than you) brought his mom (Leslie), dad (Daniel), and sister (Cassie). We met them at the silent film at Discovery Green when you were a mere four weeks old. They moved to Austin a couple months before we did. Our good friend, Claire, came. We’ve been friends with her for years. Two of your dad’s friends came (my new friends): Myia and Brian.

You wore a shirt that I picked out for your uncle Dustin more than 15 years ago (I was in high school and he was a baby). You started out wearing jeans, but you peed all over those and needed to be changed.

We set up our backyard with music, chili, Bocce Ball (thanks to Kelsey‘s mom for letting us borrow her set!), and a quilt (although Hoss hogged it for most of the party). You and Grafton had a ton of fun playing with your ball pit. You also enjoyed eating chili at your table. When it was time for cake, we set it on your table just out of reach while we figured out how to light the candle. You reached for the cake and managed to touch it with just one or two fingers. You quickly realized that you liked the taste of the homemade frosting and starting stretching as far as you could. Soon, you were grabbing it by the handful, effectively smearing buttercream all over your sweet face. Hoss quickly joined in on the action, and you were more than willing to share. You stuffed your cheeks with strawberries off the top.

You pretty much smiled for the entire little party. The one exception was when it was time to pull the strings on the homemade pinata. I devised it to open by pulling on a string rather than batting at it. You and I pulled on the string so hard that the whole pinata came down on your head. You cried. Later, when I was picking up the pinata to recycle it, you saw it and started crying again. Hopefully, your pinata trauma will pass soon…

You took a good, long nap after your party and then woke up as happy as could be. You really seemed to have a lot of fun today. You laughed and smiled a lot. Thank you for sharing your joy with us, sweetest one.

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