Party crashers

K got invited, along with his entire kindergarten class, to a birthday party at a local kids' gym.

When we showed up on Saturday afternoon, K was a little hesitant and asked me to come into the gym with him. After a few minutes, he got into the swing of things and started enjoying himself. Meanwhile, I started chatting with some parents sitting next to me. About an hour into the party, I said to them, "Wow, your daughters really know their way around all the gymnastics equipment! Do you take lessons here?" "Yes," they said, "that's how we know Theo. How do you know Theo?" "Uh..." I said, "We know Katie..."

You'd think K would have mentioned to me that (1) he didn't recognize any of these kids and (2) the birthday girl was not there. We hightailed it out of there before the snacks and cake. On the way out, I apologized to Theo's dad, who laughed it off.

On Sunday, K strolled confidently into the gym, ready for Katie's party. Before he walked in, I caught his arm and verified that he did, in fact, recognize the other kids and the birthday girl from his class.

I teared up several times, watching these sweet, perfect little children bounding, laughing, and tumbling around the gym, squabbling with each other, running up to their parents for hugs, listening carefully to the teachers, excitedly eating cake. I can't imagine anyone wanting to hurt them. None of the parents talked about it. I don't think K knows, and I hope he has no idea until he is much older. But JW said that on Monday he needed extra hugs and said something about a "monster" and something being "broken."