Bump Baby Bump

Granny B is in town!! She arrived just in time to wake Alex from his afternoon nap and hightail it to Bentonville for a birthday party. My good friend and ex-coworker Adela has a son named Lathan who was having his fourth birthday at Pump It Up, one of those party places that has all the inflatable stuff that kids can jump around on. We weren't sure what A would think about it, since he can't run and jump like the older kids. But he had a ball - almost as much fun as us adults did!

Granny B and I took turns taking Alex down the giant inflatable slide. Scaling that made-for-kids, sort-of, kind-of, ladder-like, rope-pull stairway with a 22 pound hyper-active monkey clinging to my hip was no easy task. I'll admit, I panicked a couple of times that I was going to lose my balance, or grip, or both, picturing the smooshed bodies of the half dozen kids left in my wake after I toppled heels-over-head down that stairway. Luckily, Granny B and I both made it through the ordeal unscathed and actually had a really good time sliding. Alex, on the other hand, still isn't completely sold on the whole sliding thing. He doesn't act scared, but he never seems to be gung-ho about trying it again. But we keep making him do it anyway, as if sliding is an acquired taste. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it will grow on him.

He did, however, love the bouncy house. It was a big inflatable room where kids were literally bouncing off the walls.

If Alex had his own bobble-head doll, I'm pretty sure this is what it would look like:



Once most of the kids had left and the risk of bodily harm decreased by about a hundred percent, we let Alex loose to see what he'd do.

And did he stick to the safe flat area around the perimeter of the room, where it is virtually impossible to get injured? As if! He crawled straight to the big, wobbly hump in the center of the room that cants significantly to one side if you so much as breath on it wrong and climbed right up the side.

As usual, he really enjoyed watching the other kids hop around, and many of them took quite an interest in him, as well. I think that was a big boost to his ego - that the older boys didn't think of him as a little baby. They asked him to join them for a steak dinner and stogies, but I had to draw the line somewhere. Grow a couple more teeth, kiddo, and I'll think about it.

It was cake time, which happens to be my favorite time. So Katie and Granny B enticed A out of the bouncy house and back onto solid ground.

Before cake, Adela wanted to get a picture of all of the kids, which I think is a great - if ambitious - idea. The pictures I took didn't turn out great, but Alex sat still like a good boy, and when the kids all clapped at the end, he applauded right along with them. Plus, I think the shots of the kid on the slide in the background (while the rest of the kids are sitting) are hilarious. Something tells me that boy's mama has her hands full...

Although Alex's daddy was a wet blanket and didn't join us in the bouncy house, he did get a chance to scramble A's brains a little before we entered the party room for cake.

Finally, we really got cake this time, "we" being me, Timothy, and Granny B. Alex got the usual - formula in a sippy cup. As a party favor, he got a really tasty SkyDiamond kite. He doesn't know what it is yet, but on the next windy day, I intend to show him.

In conclusion, the party was loads of fun, and we will surely be seeking out the local Pump It Up when we move to Dallas.

btw, I had several more pictures to share, but when I tried to upload them, Blogger informed me that I have exceeded my upload quota for images, and that I will have to purchase more storage space if I want to post pics. That is also why there is not a good pic of the b-day boy. Sorry Lathan! As soon as I figure out how to get someone to pay me for eating cheese puffs and watching reruns of America's Next Top Model, you'll get more pictures with your blog. 'Til then, Flickr will have to suffice.