Party weekend

Saturday was our housewarming party, our first major social event in the new house. It was a success! Whenever we have parties, I'm always paranoid that nobody will show up. And in fact, only a handful of our outside friends did show up. A few of them cancelled at the last minute, and a few others came unexpectedly. But lots of neighbors and friends from town came, which was great. Everyone oohed and aahed over the house, and the food that I spent all morning cooking disappeared. (Except the desserts. I'm a dessert fiend, so I always make sure to have at least three choices including at least one non-chocolate option. But it always turns out that real grown-ups would rather have real food. Anyway, no big deal -- all those mini-cheesecakes in the freezer will eventually be eaten. By me.)

Today I took K to his first friend party. A little girl in his class turned four and invited everyone to an indoor playground. I was a little surprised that he clung to my hand for a while and even after getting comfortable in the space, played by himself and didn't interact much with his classmates. During lunch he wanted me to sit next to him and mostly talked to me. Luckily, the outgoing birthday girl was right across from him and engaged him in conversation a few times. Unluckily, she kept giggling about how she was going to put cake on her butt, and K repeated that to her father. The father took it in stride. He may have been the one who started it. K had a great time and said he hoped that another one of his friends would have a birthday so he could go to their party too.

After the party, K was so worn out that he curled up on the couch with his Little Dude and his blanket, while I relaxed with a cup of coffee and a book in a comfy chair and JW typed away on his laptop a few feet away. This is my dream weekend scenario, but usually if I ignore K for more than a minute or two, he starts pointedly asking, "Who will play with me? I need someone to play with me or I will be LONELY."

Today I also organized our three worst closets. And in preparation for the housewarming party, JW assembled the futon that we inherited from his grandmother, and attached the giant mirror to the dresser, and raked the yard, and checked various other house tasks off the list. And I learned a kickass cream cheese frosting recipe (using whipped cream instead of butter! Genius!). And one of our party guests told me about a paint-matching iPhone app, so we'll be able to touch up the holes that the electricians left without repainting the whole wall. All in all, a very productive weekend even with all the parties.