January 2012
So now that Ryan is one, he decided to start walking. Sure he was standing and trotting along as he help stuff, but he waited until his birthday party to actually take steps on his own. I think he just saw the kids in the big ballroom jumping in the bounce house and wanted in on the fun. Now that he starts to walk on his own I will miss how fast he is as a crawler. He is so fast, sometimes we see smoke coming from his knees and hands. However, I do look forward to all the things that come with walking. Teaching him to kick a soccer ball, chasing him through the house and walking to the bathroom to wipe his own butt for a change.
We had an over-the-top Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed birthday party for Ryan. It was fantastically obnoxious! We rented the entire third floor of the Creative Arts and Events Center in downtown Greenfield. There was a two huge rooms, the first being the food and table room where we served popcorn from a machine, a bar filled with milk, punch and treats. Ang wanted tons of balloons that took two vehicles to transport. For his cake we had a cakery in Carmel make a great three tier cake with all the Mickey decorations which he demolished in 3 bites (not really, but close). We also had a video looping with slideshow of pics from his first year on earth. In the second room, we had 4 Mickey Mouse ball pits and one huge bounce house with a slide. The kids had a blast. For the older kids, we had a Xbox and a Wii setup as well as Disney movies playing on the wall. We had it all at this party...a party for a baby, who will never know it happened or even knows what a birthday is...ugh! In hindsight sure it is easy to say overkill, but in the heat of the moment it seemed like a great idea - nothing is too good for my boy!
I am glad and sad to have the first year under my belt. I am sure that at this time next year you may hear of my very low-key party, but for now we will bask in the birthday sun and jump on our bounce house. Even though I know he didn't understand what happened, I did. I am glad we celebrated in grand fashion. I am told that this blog is over the top. Oh well, I am kind of proud of this daddy job and I don't plan on winding down any time soon. I know this was supposed to be a year-long blog to tell the tales of Ryan's adventures throughout his first year, but maybe I will post something here or there to give you an update. Maybe the next time you check in to see how Ryan is doing, he will be driving his new car that we gave him on his 16th birthday party. Until then, thank you so much for being part of this adventure for me and part of the Great Adventures of Ryan Carter.
Stay tuned....
