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Yesterday was a crazy day. We planned TJ’s birthday party for 3:00 at Kitty’s. He generally doesn’t nap at that time, Kitty’s got more room than we do, and she also has a crib for him to nap in for when he does decide to nap. That was the thinking.
Except that TJ woke up too early (around 7:30) and decided that 9:00 was time for a nap. Tom had gone in to work early, so I packed TJ up and brought him over to Kitty’s earlier than planned so he could take a nap while I went shopping.
We went to Denny’s for brunch at 10:30 before shopping. Grocery shopping was meant to be quick. Some lady my mom knew stopped her on the way into the store, and when my mom was able to excuse herself, the lady physically blocked my way with her cart. I told her up front I was getting ready for my son’s first birthday party, which was in a couple of hours, and she said she didn’t want to hold me up… then proceeded to talk for almost 5 minutes! She kept touching my hand and telling me about her granddaughter, and telling me about all the stuff I’ll have to look forward to with my daughter. (She must’ve been too busy talking to remember I told her I had a son.) Dear God. I kept trying to get away, and she kept grabbing my hand and moving her cart further when I moved mine. I’ve never met the woman before in my life. I was not happy with my mom for abandoning me there. When I caught up with her, she apologized for leaving me, but said she couldn’t go back or she would’ve been stuck, too.
I only had a few things to get, so the actual shopping part didn’t take too long. I stopped at the custom cut counter to say hi to my favorite butcher Jerry. He couldn’t believe it was TJ’s birthday already. Then I went to the bakery to pick up TJ’s cake…
Oh my God. It was so great! I expected plain white frosting with a little duck in the middle and “Happy 1st birthday, TJ” somewhere on there. Instead, I got this:
I told them how pleased I was, and the guy (his name was Peter) said that he saw the duck cookie cutter we’d left, and he had to do something with it… so he came up with the whole scene with the trees and the clouds and everything. I wrote in to Price Chopper to tell them how happy I was.
I didn’t want to drive around with the cake any more than I had to. Saturday was the Travers, and traffic was terrible. I didn’t want to risk ruining the cake if some idiot hit me or I had to stop fast to avoid hitting someone. So I brought the cake directly to Kitty’s. TJ had only slept until 11:00, and she needed to lie down before the party, so I took TJ home with me. Tom got out of work shortly after that, and he watched TJ while I jumped in the shower. Then we both ran around grabbing everything we’d need for the party, including several changes of clothes and his bath tub.
We arrived back at Kitty’s around 2:15. Jillian, Gene, and Diane were already there. Jillian had told me she’d find a christening outfit for me… and she did. At JCPenney. She swears there was a one-day sale, and the outfit was part of the sale, but I don’t necessarily believe her. She said it was her mom’s gift to TJ. I thanked her.
Don, Laci, and Gavin arrived before my family did. My dad had to work, so he wasn’t there. I changed TJ into his christening outfit right after my family arrived.
I was really nervous about the baptism. I’d brought my holy water, and Kitty got a bowl for me. Tom held TJ while I said a few words about how this may have been non-traditional, but that the important part to us was that our family was there. I said we wanted everyone there to be a part of TJ’s life, and that we knew that Joe and Meghan and my dad wanted to be there even though they weren’t. TJ wasn’t too fond of me putting water on his forehead, but most babies don’t. I felt like I was rambling the whole time, but several people told me later that the baptism was beautiful and very special.
TJ didn’t like the christening outfit, so I changed him into his “party clothes.” He was getting sleepy, so we had to move things along. He did rip open a couple of presents on his own, but he was mostly interested in eating the bows and playing with toys Kitty had out for him before the party. We did get him to occasionally take a look at his new stuff.
His favorite present was a duck that my Grandma gave him. It was a puppet, and it quacked different songs when you moved its beak.
Then it was time for cake. We’d gotten him his own little cupcake to do with as he wished… a smash cake. He didn’t know what to do with it at first, but he eventually got the idea…
After the last picture, he started crying because he’d gotten cake up his nose and in his eyes. That wasn’t fun, and I felt horrible. I cleaned up what I could with some baby wipes – especially his hands because he was sleepy and kept rubbing his eyes. Then Tom took him in to give him a bath. He didn’t like the bath very much. When Tom got him out and was trying to comfort him, he peed on him.
We put a clean diaper on him and gave him a bottle to lie down with for his much-needed nap. Tom and Gene ran out to get the pizza and wings I called in. Kitty’s friend Judy and her grandson Jacob showed up right around that time – I’d forgotten they were even coming.
It was mostly grown-up time now. Gavin played quietly on the floor… he’s a big guy for a 9 month old. Jacob is going on 3 years old… and he doesn’t understand the meaning of no. I won’t get into everything he did, but Judy said he was behaving at the party… I don’t want to see him misbehaving. Josh sat out on the balcony for a while. He liked the view of the lakes.
Don and Laci were telling us about the house they’re buying next month. We told them how we won’t be buying ours. (We haven’t heard from the realtors in a week now! Except for that one message telling us about the other offer on the house we almost bought.) Much talking happened.
I snuck into the room while TJ was sleeping to grab one last party picture that I’d like to call, “All Partied Out.”
That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.
