We made a sign. He wrote his name but insisted I write “Birthday Party.” And those are balloons decorating the sign, in case you’re not sure. Balloons being an absolute must for the celebration.

I love little kid writing. Adults can imitate it, but they can’t ever quite get the adorable haphazard quality of randomly placed backwards letters and the way the whole line drifts and tilts.

After much debate, I decided to have Elan’s birthday party at the Y Kindergym this year. Basically it’s a big padded room, with things to climb on, jump on, and throw – and it’s all cushioned. Perfect for 5-year-olds to go crazy. And let me tell you, after 4 members of my household spent hours 48-24 before the party throwing up, I was very VERY happy that the party was not at my house.

Also, after said stomach bug hit my house like a whirlwind, it was clear that I was not going to be doing the baking. So my mother-in-law and sister-in-law stepped in and delegated that task to Safeway. (Thank goodness my sister-in-law, a fabulous baker, did not decide to bake the cake, as Vicious Stomach Bug took her down the night before the party.) Elan loved his cake. It had real race cars on it. He was in little boy heaven.

I’m pretty sure that my child is actually a unicorn. Evidence: check out that horn.

And look at those eyes. Here, you can see them better in this picture.

Humans don’t have eyes that gigantic. Don’t know where it came from in the gene pool, but definitely part unicorn.

There was a pinata. After the kids had made a good go at it, Mikhail slit it up with an exacto knife, but the thing was so strong that I finally just had to rip it apart. The kids ignored this little birthday party faux pas. There was candy to be had.

Even Emry got in on the action.

Now that Elan is officially 5, I realized two things:

One: That I’ve been thinking of him as 5 for a long time, which is weird because I’m generally such a nostalgic, stop-that-growing-up-so-fast kind of mama. He and I agreed that 5 is like a big little kid, whereas 4 is still a little little kid (and some number I can’t yet imagine is a big big kid).

And two: That I’ve been a mother for a half-decade now. He’s getting faster than me.