Am I There, Yet?

It’s that time of year again!  This is birthday season for us.  Titus turns 5 on Friday and Lilly turns 7 a week from next Saturday.  We’re not big on birthday parties with lots of screaming children hopped up on sugar.  We’d rather do something special as a family.  Sure…my kids don’t get as many birthday presents that way…but is that really such a bad thing? 

Lilly’s birthday is planned.  She was very decisive about what she wanted to do this year.

My mom told me about this place called Camp Sunshine in Maine.  It’s a camp for families of terminally ill children.  It’s a really amazing place offering free services for the families…including lodging, food, activities, counseling, medical services, etc…  Since everything is free for the families, you can imagine the camp relies on volunteers and outside financial support.  They have a big fundraiser coming up in Manhattan.  It’s a pumpkin festival in Central Park with face painting, games, music, etc…  All the proceeds go to help Camp Sunshine.  The highlight of this festival is that they’re trying to break a world record.  Last year Boston hosted this same festival and they broke a world record by carving and lighting over 30,000 pumpkins.  This year Boston is challenging New York City, so both cities are going to compete against each other to try to break the record from last year.  I told Lilly about the camp and about the festival and she decided that she really wanted to do this for her birthday.  She loved the idea of going to a pumpkin festival and helping out children who are really sick.  She asked if we could go to ESPN Zone for her birthday dinner.  I asked her why and she said, “Because it’s really cool and it has lots of sports stuff and the food is really good.”  She’s right…they have the best children’s menu I’ve ever seen.  Josh was quick to agree, of course.  He proudly said, “That’s my girl!”

So…Lilly’s birthday is planned.  Titus’ birthday is not.  I have no idea what we should do for his birthday.  I know that he would be thrilled if we took him to Toys ‘R’ Us and let him pick out his own birthday present and then take him to Chuck E. Cheese’s for dinner.  This would be heaven for him.  This gives me a headache to think about because Mr. Cheese and I are sworn enemies.  There’s something about Chuck E. Cheese that brings out the worst in people.  (Wal-Mart has this same problem…do you ever notice that people seem extra-grumpy there?  You can always find somebody yelling at their kids at Wal-Mart.)  The last time we were at Chuck E. Cheese’s we witnessed a grandma catfight break out.  One grandma was screaming at the other because the other grandmother’s grandson was climbing up the slide when the first grandmother’s princess was trying to slide down the slide.  It was ridiculous. 

Anyways…it is not about me…it is Titus’ birthday and I want to plan a day that he is thrilled with.  It’s his day and I want to help him feel special.  But, if I can think of an alternative to Chuck E. Cheese I will fully embrace it.