Apart from the big birthday party last Sunday, Josh wanted to eat at IHOP on his actual birthday. Apparently, he’s a big pancake fanatic. Who knew? After we got back from work, we took the kids out for dinner. To pass the time, Joshua devoured one of his new Magic Treehouse books (birthday present), and Lily & I made faces.
 Joshua loves his books |
 Making faces |
A Star Wars family
Joshua celebrated his sixth birthday this year. Trying to find something different to do, we opted to rent a nearby community room, and entertain the kids ourselves. We decided on a space / Star Wars theme for the party. Since Joshua was in kindergarten now, we invited friends and children from both kindergarten classes at his school. Out of 40 kids, I’ll never understand the folks who never RSVP. I mean, really, can’t you pick up the phone?
Handmade lightsabers
As the party attendance grew to around 25 kids plus the parents, we decided that maybe we weren’t going to be able to successfully entertain all those kids (and their parents), and run the overall party simultaneously. A few days earlier last week, we opted to hire someone else to professionally come in and do it. In hindsight, great idea. I can handle entertaining my two kids, but 25 kids? Recipe for disaster, and me fleeing through the fields. We made a call to Dynamic FitKids, and they were available on Sunday afternoon.
My wife had some cool ideas, such as us wearing Star Wars t-shirts. As part of the goody/gift bags, each kid would take home their very own handmade lightsaber (made from a pool noodle.). Finally, Namita made a pretty awesome Star Wars birthday cake with a mini Death Star on it.
A Star Wars cake
Two years in a row, the day called for rain, but we dealt with it. We got to the hall about two hours before to set up and decorate. The kids and parents promptly began arriving at 3pm, but we were fairly ready. The kids ran around, then our entertainment arrived, set up quickly, and we were off. It turns out that 25 kids is a lot of children to handle, so we’re doubly glad we didn’t try to do it ourselves. I think everyone thought the cake was pretty cool, and the kids seem to enjoy beating each other with their lightsabers.
Joshua’s 6th birthday party – Rocket Ship Activity from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.
When the new carpet was installed, we had to move everything out of the living room. Now that the carpet is installed, we’re figuring out how stuff should be arranged and how to best use the space. I think we’ve finally found a place for Joshua.
Organizing Joshua
I guess the kids like their new respective game systems… Josh’s Nintendo DSi XL, and a hand-me-down Leapster handheld for Lily.
Josh & Lily like their handhelds
Liberty Science Center
In years past when the kids were both in daycare, my wife and I would normally be off to enjoy life as adults. As Joshua is now in kindergarten, he is off this week, and he’s been bored. He’s not saying it in so many words, but he certainly has cabin fever, and constantly asks us, “What can I do now?” We decided that a trip to the museum, and outside of the house, would be good for him. Lily went to daycare, and my wife had some office work to do, so it was just a boys’ trip to the museum. We haven’t been to the LSC since January 2009, so it has certainly been a while.
It was an easy drive up to Jersey City mid-morning, and LSC looked exactly the same. After spending about $50 last year, I was determined to cut the costs. I looked for discounts through my employee, but found none. I checked the 3D and IMAX films, but there were none that looked that interesting. I elected to skip the movie and save $20. I’m also realizing that there is no benefit of shoehorning a million activities into the itinerary of a 5-year old. Kids end up exhausted, and they don’t enjoy it. There were a few new exhibits, but I elected to skip the new Mastodon Lubya to save money. We visited all the floors, but Joshua most enjoyed the I-Explore childrens area. Apparently, he’s been yearning to play with uncooked rice and use the ball contraption machines since 2009, and that was all he was interested. As a matter of fact, he wrote down what his itinerary was, and “rice” was on there twice.
I decided not to fight it, as long as he was having a good time, but next time I’m just buying a bag of Uncle Ben’s. I do want to tell others that there quite a number of exhibits that weren’t functioning. Cutbacks?
Jiss & Aji
Wow, you know you’re getting old when:
My little (young and in stature) 2nd cousin Jiss is now engaged, and we attended a luncheon celebrating her engagement on Saturday. It was supposed to start at 11:30am, but we were running late as usual. I drove like a maniac all the way up to Rockland, but there was no real rush. The lunch itself was running, as they were waiting for some folks from their church attending a baptism to arrive, including also waiting for their minister. The appetizer hour was stretched an additional hour.
Josh & Lily before they ruined their clothes
I wish we hadn’t stressed ourselves out rushing to another event that was running on IST (Indian Standard Time.) It’s always the case though. We’re always running an hour late, and the Indian events that we attend are late to start as well. We rush, but maybe we shouldn’t. What we should do is start getting ready an hour early, as we need that extra hour of buffer time to get the kids dressed and out the door.
I felt the lunch was highlighted by Lily spilling an entire glass of mango lassi on the new salwar that my parents got her from India, and this was the first occasion to wear it. I’d say Josh was better behaved and more careful while eating, but that would be an untruth. He ruined his new shirt by rubbing his right sleeve through his plate of Indian food. You KNOW that curry powder is going to permanently stain. Sigh. Life with kids, folks.
Congratulations are in order for my cousin Jiss and her fiancee Aji. I wish them the best on their big endeavor. I hope they remember this important adage from the Dalai Lama:
Don’t sweat the petty things, and don’t pet the sweaty things.
Big milestone today — Josh lost his first tooth. He has (had) two loose teeth for the past few weeks, but we discovered last night during dinner one was very loose. We figured it would fall out in the next day or two. Right after lunch time today, Josh said it fell out while he was playing at the gym. He’s keeping it in a little “treasure chest” they gave him at school.
What a smile!
My wife and I are still a bit stunned. These past five years with Josh and Lily have gone by so fast. They were so small not that long ago, and now my son is going to elementary school and lost his first tooth. It’s mind-boggling. I went through some old video of Joshua, and comparing him then and now. The embedded video below is from April 2007 after he turned two years old.
Reading part 1 – April 2007 from Joel Ipe on Vimeo.
Late Sunday afternoon, we drove down to my sister’s place to have the kids trick or treat. In our own neighborhood, we don’t see too many kids. Meanwhile, in south Jersey, it’s like the 50′s in America. Everyone sits outside with tables and chairs, hand out candy, drink beer. The sidewalks are full of kids trick or treating. It’s all very odd to me. It’s nice, but still odd. Ah well, as my mother would say, “When in Rome, trick or treat with everyone else.”
The kids looked great. This year, Josh was dressed as Luke Skywalker (with a purple lightsaber), and Lily was Wonder Woman (one of her favorites.) Namita and I hadn’t dressed up for Halloween in many years, but this year ew borrowed someone’s Double Dare costumes. After we got to the house, all was well until Lily saw Kitty’s scary Mummy costume, started screaming, and jumped into our arms. She wouldn’t relax until Kitty took off the makeup later in the evening. In the meantime, we kept them apart in different trick or treating groups.
Robbie and I took the kids out for trick or treating, while Julie and Namita stayed back at the house to watch the baby and hand out candy. It was a cold night! More folks came over, and ended up staying for dinner there. By the time we got home, it was almost midnight, and on a Sunday night! It was rough getting up the next day for work/school for everyone.
 Josh as Luke Skywalker |
 Nums & Wonder Woman |
 Emily, Lily, Joshua |
 Family photo, Halloween 2010 |
October 30th was Josh’s last regular season soccer practice game. Two months went awfully fast, and I’m glad my wife signed him up for it. It was a good experience for him to play a sport for the first time with other boys his age. Below is a picture of the team taken a few weeks earlier. It was an interesting experience on my part. I was officially a parent taking my kid to his weekend games, rooting for my son to kick the ball across the field, and trying my best to be encouraging when he made mistakes. I think it was also fun for him to interact with some of the boys from his kindergarten class on the weekends.
We’ve decided to have him stick with soccer. In two months, he’ll start in indoor soccer. We felt that it’s good for him to continue building up his motor skills at this age, and to have fun outside the house.
Josh's 2010 Soccer Team Group Photo
Joshua in his soccer gear
Many moons ago, I was interested in playing pee-wee football, but as soon as my folks found out that practices & games were Sunday mornings, football was off the table. Why? We’d have to miss church. Ah well, begin the sour grapes — I probably wouldn’t have been any good at football at that age.
Fast forward to July/August 2010, and my wife and I are debating what type of sports or gym classes we should put Joshua in. In the past, we’d enrolled him in Saturday morning gym classes, but wanted something different to keep him interested, and to further develop his motor skills. My wife discovered that our local Police Athletic League (PAL) runs a number of sports activities, such as soccer and baseball.
Neither of us are actually soccer fans, but sometimes you gotta sacrifice for the kids. Wait a minute, sacrifice sometimes? Try 90% of the time! Regardless, we signed him up for soccer practices on most weekends. He’s on a specific team, he needs gear, but no away-type games at this age. It’s all about learning the skills. There was a short-lived concern — they didn’t have enough coaches for all the teams. Luckily, we have coaches for all the teams now.
Fast forward to last Thursday. We made an evening trip to our local Dick’s Sporting Goods in Freehold to buy supplies. Shorts, shin guards, socks, and cleats.
Joshua's first soccer practice
Fast forward to now. I’m sitting here in my outdoor folding chair, watching Josh’s 2nd practice. They had a practice yesterday — 30 mins of lessons and practicing, then one team plays another team in a 30 min game. Most parents bring a folding lawn chair for the hour.
So far, he likes soccer. That’s good.
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