We celebrated the X-man's 5th birthday. We went out to breakfast at the Longfellow Grill, stopped by the Salvation Army for some cool cars and trucks, picked up a friend and went to see Up! at the Highland Theatre in St. Paul. Including breakfast, cake fixings, SA, the movie, and snacks I easily went through $100. I made a conscious choice to support independent, local businesses (restaurant and movie theatre) and we stayed in the neighborhood - more or less.
The fun part was letting X make the decisions - all day. Pretty entertaining, especially as he changed his mind, a lot.
For his birthday cake, he told me he wanted a mouse driving a bulldozer. Okay... had a small toy bulldozer, mouse, and the willingness to make cookie crumb dirt so, yeah, I can do that... Then he wanted dinosaurs. And MonkeyFist and sumo Ninjas. And tube worms. And...
What we settled for was a dinosaur diorama, with gummi worms. Strawberries were boulders, green sprinkles for grass, and dried dates for - um, well - dinosaur poop. I found a candle that was dino-height so it looks like he was trying to make a wish, too. Super silly but fun.
We had a bunch of presents from relatives far and wide - books, cars - and the plan on Saturday is to take X and friends to a restored steam engine train and museum. Somewhat low key, but high on the experiences scale and a little lower consumption profile. The less we shop and the more we avoid network tv, it seems the demand for stuff is naturally decreased.
I'm powerless over the shape of my son's birthday. The first step is admitting it. The "letting go" is quite liberating.
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