A Jubilee Year for Jonah

Jonah turned 5 this month.  Five is an age when a birthday party full of friends, family, and rented entertainment, or at least themed paper cups and napkins, seems appropriate, but when I broached the subject with the young prince, he replied, "Oh, Mom.  I don't want a big party.  All of those people get in my way."

Jonah likes people, and excitement, and fun.  But, he does not do well in crowds.  He gets over stimulated and starts to  loose control of his limbs and his manners.  Those of us who know and love Jonah, know this about him.  What I find amazing, is that he knows this about himself.  What a kid.

So, there was no big party this year.  It was replaced by a series of good times, the sum of which, is turning out to be better than any party.  Except there has been no bounce house.  Yet.

The night before Jonah's actual birthday, I informed Hubband, in case he did not know, that I have three small children to raise, a house to tend to, and, let's face it, a blog to write.  I don't have a lot of time.  As a result, I did not have a present for the boy.  (Well, I had a t-shirt with his new favorite character on it, but nothing fun.)  I was expecting him, Hubband, to go out and get one after dinner.  Would he mind?  He didn't mind.  In fact, he liked the idea so much that he took Jonah with him.

A late night (half past six) trip to Toys-R-Us, with Daddy and his wallet, was a dream come true for our little boy.  He came home with a Nerf six-shooter.  He promised he would be surprised when he opened it the next day.  He insisted, in fact, that we wrap it, so that he could act surprised.  The kid deserves an Oscar.  Foam bullets with little suction cup tips have been flying around the house ever since.

On his birthday proper, he had school, so I delivered the obligatory cup cakes to his classroom.  They sang and he blew out candles.  He liked it.

After school, Nana came over, which he always loves.  She came bearing gifts of course.  A Hot Wheels track.  Battery powered.  It spits cars through two spinning wheels, much like a pitching machine, and they go shooting around the figure eight track.  We are going to have to buy batteries in bulk, but it is worth it for the wonderful moments of peace this has brought.  All three children just stare at it, and the, now familiar, "whir whir clickety whir" sound lulls them.

That night Hubband and I took (just) him out to dinner at one of those Japanese places where they cook the food on a large grill right in front of you.  He loved that too.  He shrieked at the flaming onion volcano, giggled when the guy flipped the salt and pepper shakers up into the top of his hat, and used chopsticks.

That weekend, Tante (what he calls my sister) and Uncle Jim arrived at our house with Sock Monkey.  Sock Monkey is, well, a sock monkey, but the socks he is made out of could have been worn by a giant.  Sock Monkey has become, in a few short days, a part of the family.  He eats with us.  He sleeps with Jonah.   He wears clothes.  Including pajamas.  Today, Jonah took him to school.

Sock Monkey was only the beginning of what Tante and Uncle Jim had to offer.  They took him out to lunch and his food came served in a box that looks just like a 1964 Ford Mustang.  Yellow.  Like the one my dad had when I was a kid.  Next, they went to a train show.  And, it does not end there.  He came home from the train show with a wooden train tunnel that whistles whenever a train goes through it, and has a record function that allows you to holler into the tunnel and it will play it back with an echo.  Oh, the cleverness.  Oh, the noise.  This thing cost a small fortune, but I'm sure it was worth every penny to my sister, who knows I must listen to it.

So far, that has been all.  But his other grandparents are coming this weekend and Hubband's sister and her fiance are coming next weekend.  And, I still want to rent a bounce house.  This is more for us than him.  Those boys are so happy just bouncing, bouncing, bouncing, that they leave us alone and sleep really well.