Two days before parker's 5th birthday, we had a party. It was oh so mellow.....until it wasn't. To keep it simple, I just invited a few friends and cousins from the neighborhood. That is who park wanted. he said he wanted Rachel's kids to come, then named all 6-from her 14 year old down to her 8 month old. (and he did that for all the families). I love that about Park. Friends with everyone. Craig barBQed hot dogs, plus some of the kids cooked their own around the fire, as well as marshmellows. The kids swam and played with "the petting zoo"--charley the snake and frogs we were babysitting form preschool--the ladies talked and tried to keep marshmellow skewer sword fights to a minimum and the guys played washers. My favorite moment from the day happened when I was standing next to the pool. Parker was on the far side of the pool holding on to the edge and he looked up and caught my eye. He just gave me the biggest smile of his life, letting me know that he was happy so the party was a success.
The worst moment of the party was when I heard Miles yell and looked over to see him pulling his bloody hands off his bloody face. He ran across the washers field mid-throw and got sliced across the nose-thankfully not the eye. At this point there were 39 people at our house and we hadn't opened presents or blown out candles. I let Matt talk me into staying at the party, while he drove Miles and Craig to the hospital for stitches.They all convinced me that he would be in the waiting for hours anyhow. He stopped crying so quickly that I let them go (after making Craig pose in a "parents" shot with Parker). :)
After the party winded down, I left and got to the hospital with 2 hours to spare....the total wait was 6 hours! He had a big nap, then a plastic surgeon stitched him up. They had to knock him out for the surgeon so they put the tubes for the IV on the back of his hand. He didn't even flinch when they put it in, (he was crazy brave and mellow through it all) and the second he saw the tube, he lifted up his hand with his fist closed and started shooting the nurse making shooting noises. "i SPIDERMAN! I get you." He shot every person that walked by, so happy about the tubes attached to his body. When he was waking up from the drugs, the first thing he said was, "I dizzy, dizzy, dizzy dizzy." Then he cracked his eyes open, lifting his hand and said,"sshhuuu. shuuu." shooting the doctor. They said he was the first patient ever to be sad when they removed the needles from his hand. We made it through our first ever emergency room visit and now he just has a tiny scar that is almost gone.
