The Best Birthday Ever

My sister-in-law emailed about a week before the big day wondering if we were free to babysit on a Thursday the following week. She didn't realize at the time that it was also my birthday, and when she did, she immediately said, "Never mind! Forget I asked! You don't want to babysit on your birthday!"

That was my first reaction, too. But then something unusual happened.

"Why not?" a voice said. It turns out that voice came from me. It was an out-of-body experience, and as hard as I tried, I couldn't take it back.

"Are you sure?" Eric asked skeptically.

"Why not?" I repeated like a person possessed.

Of course, when my birthday actually arrived the next week I started feeling a little sorry for myself. I can't believe I have to babysit on my birthday. At least they're both potty trained by now...I think...I hope. Aw, man. Me and my big mouth. [Note: That doesn't matter, I always change the diapers, anyway. -Eric.]

"Happy birthday!" Jessie and Grady squealed when we arrived. Then, they immediately started rushing around the living room to show us their toys and tell us everything that had happened in their busy lives since the last time we saw them. These kids have a lot going on, so that took awhile. Their enthusiasm was catching, and I found myself getting butterflies in my stomach. Maybe this wasn't going to be such a bad birthday after all.

Jessie and Grady raced to their mom's bedroom and zoomed back with a pretty gold package for me. The present revealed a beautiful pink necklace that I put on immediately. (Sarah has great taste.) Then Jessie decided that she should let me borrow one of her treasured plastic rings for the day--since it was my birthday and all. She ceremoniously handed me a clear plastic band that I placed reverently on my pinky finger. It took me awhile to realize it was the shape of a foot. I felt honored.

Next, Grady showed Eric his Batman paraphernalia, and Jessie led me downstairs to her secret hideout in the basement. She climbed into a brightly-colored nylon tent and spoke to me of very important secrets through the small flap opening.

"I'm going to marry Sam," Jessie told me.

She started kindergarten this year, and everything is new and exciting, including all of her new friends. She told her grandpa on the phone just a few weeks ago that she is "soooo smart now." And she is.

Anyway, I asked her about this Sam fellow.

"Why do you like Sam?"

"Because...he's jolly!" Jessie grinned at me through the nylon flap. Then she drew a picture of the two of us on the special paper she had hidden in her fort. I had to wait for it, but a few minutes later she shoved the page between the opening slot in her tent and shook it until I received my second gift of the evening. Hey, this birthday was getting better by the minute.

Just as Jessie handed me her masterpiece, Eric and Grady showed up. Grady gave us a tour of his fort (another brightly-colored tent right next to Jessie's), and then we decided to go out to dinner in the Cherry Creek area not far from their house.

This is where my birthday really started to get cool. We were celebrating with little kids, so that was a perfect excuse for my favorite food next to chocolate--pizza! We went to the California Pizza Kitchen and shared a delicious pepperoni pizza and Hawaiian pizza while coloring all over every inch of the complimentary coloring books.

Jessie informed us over dinner that if she didn't end up marrying Sam she might marry Luka as a backup. She liked Luka a lot, too, but there was just one problem with him. "He acts like my conscience," she said very seriously. Translation: Luka is a little bossy.

Grady was his usual sweet self, coloring and repeating the last three words of everything Jessie said. He's a little leery of this whole kindergarten thing, and I think he secretly misses Jessica at daycare, but he's handling it well.

After dinner we took what we thought was going to be a short walk to Whole Foods to pick out a birthday cake. How soon we forget that no walk is short when you have little ones in tow.

"Look at the cheetah!" Grady screamed as he ran toward a sculpture of a mountain lion in the courtyard area.

"No, Grady," Jessie instructed in her big-sister voice. "It's a mountain lion." We paused while Jessie showed Grady the curved tail and they both decided who was the mama lion and who was the baby.

We had no sooner herded them away from that sculpture when they found another one on the other side of the courtyard. This one depicted children playing in a fountain.

"Why is that girl pointing her toe?" Jessie asked.

We explained that she was dipping it in the water of the fountain, but unfortunately the fountain had been drained, so there was no water. That's why she looked a little silly at the time.

"I found the water!" Grady chimed. He was squatted over a little drainage ditch, sticking his fingers between the holes in the grate. Rats! We forgot the wet wipes. Oh well.

The two-block trip to Whole Foods took about forty-five minutes, but we made it. Then we made a rookie babysitting mistake. We led Jessie and Grady over to the huge glass case filled with decadent sweets so that they could help me pick out a birthday cake. That was fantasy overload for a three and five year old. (It was fantasy overload for me, too, to be quite honest.)

About a half hour later, we decided on a pink flower cupcake for Jessica, a baseball cupcake for Grady, and a very small, VERY chocolate cake for the adults. Mission accomplished. Now we just had to get back to the car.

An hour and a half later we were almost there. We ambled past a bus stop where four or five commuters silently waited for the bus.

"Wow! It's pretty quiet around here!" Grady yelled suddenly, causing one or two them to jump.

That's about when Jessie started repeating, "OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!" at the top of her little lungs.

Eric smiled sheepishly at our chuckling audience. "They're not ours."

As we waited forever for the walk sign to change so we could cross the last street to get to the parking lot that looked like Mecca in the distance, Jessie informed us that she knows when to walk because she is now a "trained kindergartner." Good thing. We all feel safe now.

We arrived back at their home and stuffed ourselves with cake while Jessie and Grady sang five thousand verses of "Happy Birthday" to me. My favorite was the ever-popular, "You look like a monkey...and you smell like one, too!"

Satiated, we collapsed onto the couch to watch Tinker Bell. I have always loved Disney movies, so this was definitely a highlight of the evening. The best part was how Jessie told us exactly what was going to happen two seconds before it did. Her nonstop commentary had Eric and me stifling giggles to the point where tears streamed down my cheeks.

Sarah came home shortly after the movie started, but we hung out for a little while longer while Jessie and Grady recounted the events of the evening for her. Sarah then took a moment to relay a recent event that occurred at home. Evidently, Jessie picked up the phrase "oh my god" at school, and Sarah had a little talk with her about how a better phrase might be "oh my goodness" or "oh my gosh."

The day after their discussion, Jessie was standing on a stool washing her hands and she almost slipped and fell off. "Oh my god!" she yelled. When Sarah started to correct her once again, Jessie came back with a quick answer. "But Mommy, when I almost feel off that stool, I felt as though God was very close to me, so I called out to him. That's why I said it."

Who can argue with that?

So the evening wound down, and I sat on the comfy couch surrounded by Eric, Sarah, and two kids covered in frosting, and life was really good. This might just have been the best birthday ever--pizza, cake, Disney movies...and most of all family. It was the perfect combination.

I think the trained kindergartner summed it up best. "I didn't think that was going to be fun, but it was!"