Gracie's First Birthday Party

Gracie attended her first birthday part today...well, the first that wasn't hers anyway. Today Jackie celebrated her 4th birthday at The Little Gym in Winchester.

Gracie wore the prettiest pink dress with white lace pinafore and her Mary Jane's. She looked picture perfect. We had created a play dough cake as a gift for Jackie, and it was neat. The day was shaping up to be...well...perfect.

Gracie had been super excited for the past several days, and now she was practically bouncing out of her car seat until time for Jackie's party.

When we got there, about 8 other kids were running around this facility having a great time. I took off Gracie's dress where she was wearing her pink leotard. Things went swimmingly as she too went from equipment to equipment never letting go of my hand. Then, it was time for group activities. In true Gracie fashion, she not only freezed at the idea of doing the fun games, she broke out into full on tears.

I can't say I am surprised by this, and apparently neither were Gracie's classmates. The first group activity was to go around the circle and say your name, your age, and your favorite color. When they got to Gracie she hid her face in her knees. One of the little boys, clearly used to my daughters extreme shyness piped up "That's Grace!" He wasn't mocking her at all, he was just telling the "teacher" who she was. It was kind of cute, and it gave me a bigger glimpse in to what may be happening at school. I plan to check with her teachers on Tuesday. There is nothing I can do, just try and boost her self confidence, but I want a better idea of whether she is participating at school.

Anyway, the group broke away and did fun on the equipment every so many minutes, and then would go back to the circle. Gracie would have a blast on the mats and beams and such, but would clam up and cling to me for the other. She did get more and more relaxed as time went on. By the end, she was having a great time. Of course that was just in time to line up and go in to the party room for cake.


This part was the best. She felt at ease with her school friends, she had her dress back on, and of course there was plenty of sugar. Gracie smiled and giggled with the other girls and I was able to breathe for a minute. As you can imagine, I was the only parent in the gym with their child. The rest watched behind a Plexiglas window made for parents of the gym students.

Jackie's party was very cute. She had a Tinker Bell theme. The boys weren't left out either, they got pirate hats and patches as if they were Captain Hook. The party ended not long after cake and ice cream, and our adorable hostess gave each child a party favor bag complete with balloon.

Gracie is still talking about the party, and I have earned a gold star for surviving my child's first birthday party.

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