Happy Birthday Elias!

They say you mellow out with the more children you have. To an extent, I think that’s true! We had a very small birthday party for Elias, with 4 great-grandparents, 2 grandparents, 1 aunt, 1 uncle, 2 cousins (and one in-utero) and of course, Elias’ siblings and parents. Way smaller than any other 1st birthday party I’ve ever thrown, but I don’t think Elias minded much. In fact, I think he wasn’t used to that much attention!

Here’s Silje with one of her great-grandpas…sporting the party hats!

Elias with Grandpa, and the plain chocolate cake. Again, I’m in was in the mood for simple.

One of my favorite part of a first birthday party is always the first piece of cake.

Hmmm, this looks interesting…

Seriously, you’re not stopping me yet?

The pictures just get better and better as time goes on!

He was very proud of himself, and enjoyed his cake immensely!

I love this picture of Elias and his cousin, Kaeden, both so hard at work!

Opening his gifts was interesting, as he had lots of, well we’ll call them “helpers.” Although, I sometimes wonder if “vultures” would be a better word. As Elias gets so few things that aren’t just the cast offs of his older siblings, I felt very protective of this event for him. I wanted him to feel the wrapping paper, and play with the boxes. I wanted him to examine each gift, before they were snatched out of his hands. He wouldn’t have minded. That’s pretty normal for him. But on his birthday, I wanted him to be able to enjoy every part.

So here’s an expert of what you would have heard from my lips if you had walked into the gift opening:

No. There you go Elias, tear this part here. David! David, don’t open that present either.
Elias is opening this one now. Yes I know you want to help but don’t touch the presents. Knut, can you help me here? Look, it’s a shirt Elias! Yes, that puppy is soft on there. Does it taste good? Now look at what Aunt Rondi and Uncle Chris got you! David back up. No, back up more. Silje, no, you cannot help. When he needs your help, I’ll tell you. OOOOooo, is this a fun toy? Yes, we’ll have to open that. David, it’s not yours. Silje, back up too. This is Elias’ toy. He gets one toy that he gets to play for a little while by himself. No, back up. Knut, do you want to get that out of the packaging for me? Here, Elias, look at this card. That’s fun, isn’t it? This tissue paper makes a funny sound, huh? David, no. Don’t touch the tissue paper. This is Elias’ tissue paper. Silje, you’re sitting nice, do you want to help him a little? No, honey, help him, don’t grab it from him.

In hindsight, I ought to have tied the other children up and gagged them before this part of the party. Well, live and learn.