Party Time

Dirty face from all
the party food!

Some days it's just great to just have fun. We had the perfect opportunity to do that today. Felix has a friend named Elijah, who had his second birthday party today. The theme was an animal wonderland; and it certainly was! We could go 'fishing' for magnetic fish in the paddling pool. There was a bowling game, but instead of using a ball to knock the pins down, you had to use a coconut. Felix coloured in some animal pictures and hung some plastic monkeys on a tree. There was a 'Bear Hunt' where we had to look for bags of different bear shaped cookies. He even got to hit a shark shaped pinata with a big stick. There were toy animals and inflatable animals everywhere. Felix absolutely loved it!

Animal themed food

Felix's favourite word to sign at the party today was "Eat". There were so many amazing things to eat and of course, all the food was animal themed as well. He tried lots of things he hasn't eaten before. I was pleased that he wasn't interested in most of the sweet things but preferred the savoury ones. His one sweet treat was a mini ice cream cone filled with marshmallow, which he thought was delicious!

Hitting the pinata

Our little giraffe

There was music playing at the party, and even though there was so much going on, Felix stopped in his tracks when his favourite song came on. He listened for a second and then started doing the actions to 'Rock -a-bye your bear'. I love the lack of inhibition children have when they are in a room full of people they don't know well. They feel free to dance and clap their hands and express how happy they are. It's sad that this gift disappears as we get older. People with Down Syndrome, however, seem to maintain this trait for a lot longer than the rest of us. It is always a highlight for me to watch older children with Down Syndrome dance and sing like nobody is watching. It is a precious gift indeed.

Amazing fish cookies

Shark fruit basket

When the pinata finally broke at the party today, there were all sorts of goodies inside including some cute little finger puppets. Felix picked a bright blue hippo puppet. When we got home from the party this afternoon, Felix sat for ages trying to put the puppet onto his finger. After he had a good try for a while, I helped him to put it on. He thought it was so funny to wiggle it around and watch the hippo move backwards and forwards. He has had such a fun day that he has had a permanent smile on his face the whole time. 

One very happy boy!

It goes without saying that Felix fell asleep the second his head touched his mattress tonight. He completely wore himself out today.