Happy Birthday, Periwinkle Ryan!

Our dear blogfriend, Mrs. Periwinkle, emailed me a month ago to ask if we O'Neals would like to come to Ryan's 4th birthday party. She said her Ryan asked for my Isaac by name, even though it had been nearly a year (how is that possible?) since we'd last seen them in person. That Ryan, he is something special.

So come we did, out of the house, all four O'Neals together, for our first outing since the Great Stomach Flu of Oh-Seven hit our house a week and a half ago. We traveled down the I-95 corridor in no traffic at all, chasing big trucks at Isaac's command, and in a blink we were at a door bedecked with Curious George.

I tell you, that Mrs. Periwinkle has a serious future in party-planning, if she should choose to accept it. Everything was George-themed, from the pin-the-whipped-cream-on-George's-sundae to the napkins and plates, but my favorite party things were ones Mrs. P had planned out according to situations in Curious George books.

*From one George book (where he gets a job?) about a painting adventure, there were cupcakes "splattered" with red, yellow, and blue icing, and then atop one cupcake, a George stood, also splattered with colored icing. To continue the painting theme, the walls in their brand-new, unpainted addition were covered with art paper. My babies greatly enjoyed covering the "walls" with paint until they discovered they could paint the paper-covered floor with their feet. How George-like of them.

*From "Curious George and the Ice Cream Shop", Mrs. Periwinkle assembled us for a build-your-own sundae bar. Isaac topped his favorite, chocolate, with gummy bears, dinosaur sprinkles, dot sprinkles, and M&Ms before giving up and eating only M&Ms. It was up to his mom to make sure that sundae didn't go to waste.

The coolest part of any party, though, is always the people. The birthday monkey, Ryan really did remember Isaac, and Isaac took a quick and natural shine to him. He talked about Ryan all the way home. They both seem to be of the same relative temperament, both sweet, gentle, casual guys. We got to meet Ryan's dad and also his grandma, Joan S., a frequent commenter on the Periwinkle site. And naturally the Baby Human family was there, for whom we are total junkies. We got to meet the Babiest Human and the Daddy Human for the first time, a total treat. The Daddies, all three of them, even engaged in man-talk together.

As a parting gift, both boys got a grab-bag full of George- themed goodies, and Isaac got a new George book. The Baby Human family had to jet before we could say goodbye (Goodbye!) due to an impending preschooler explosion, and apparently we left none too soon to avoid that on our accounts, too, as both babies were passed out in their car seats less than 10 minutes down the road.

Thanks for showing us such a good time, Periwinkles! I hope we can get together again before another year runs away from us!

(and naturally, your breaking news source, Tale of a Baby Human, has another account here)