Shameless flattery

Today was Little Dog's birthday party. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Didn't he turn 4 last month? Yes. Why the hell is the birthday party happening almost a full month after the actual birthday? Well, we had to reschedule. As it turns out, the day we'd originally scheduled was the day every man woman and child in Seattle must fly to Mexico. I don't know why we weren't previously notified, but after the 7th decline because the family was taking a vacation to Mexico, I decided that maybe this wasn't a good weekend for a birthday party so I moved it. Yep, I'm impulsive like that. Anyhow, the lateness of the birthday party isn't the point of this post, so let's move on.

To help celebrate, Grandma and Grandpa drove up from Portland. They came up on Saturday and we hung out, then they helped me watch the kids while I finished the birthday related errands. So last night, Little Dog was just a bundle of chatter. For some reason he decided it was important for him to talk more or less non-stop. Should you decide to tune him out, he thought it was then appropriate to hold one of your ears to keep your focus. He's practical that way. While he was chatting with Grandpa, he paused then asked, "Grandpa, do you have any hair?" He investigated a moment, discovered the hair on the sides of my dad's head and continued. "Grandpa, you have a little hair," then continued his investigation. Looking right into my his eyes, he added, "Grandpa, it looks like someone took your hair." I nearly peed myself giggling. Such charming children I'm raising.

So fast forward, onto the party. We had it at one of those bounce house places where the kids run wild in an inflatable climber filled warehouse. It was great. As the kids ran at top speed from one bounce house to another inflatable obstacle course to an inflatable basketball court, the parents stood around chatting. Once in a while and adventurous parent would join in the bouncing and realize just what a great workout this really is. At some point, Little Dog asked me to go into the obstacle course with him, and I, being a loving, indulgent and sometimes foolish mother, bowed to the peer pressure of the other parents urging me on. After the first round of climbing through tubes, climbing up inflated steps then sliding down big cushy slides, he asked me to do it again. It was kind of fun, so I did. As soon as I'd climbed in after Little Dog, Big Dog climbed in after me. About half way through the second tunnel, Big Dog says, "I'd go faster if there wasn't this big old butt in front of me."
Gee thanks kid. All of a sudden I had a new sympathy for the man with the stolen hair. Sigh.