I'm not around preschoolers much these days, so spending three hours at a birthday party for a four-year-old was something of an adventure this past Saturday. The party theme was "Paw Patrol" (a canine-themed animated show popular with this age group).
I had a great time sitting on the playroom floor and playing with the kids. Although some toys have certainly gone hi-tech since my day (the equivalent of an Etch-a-Sketch is now battery-operated and comes with a stylus for writing on the screen), dump trucks, excavators and bulldozers remain a perennial favorite. One boy was just learning his numbers and counted for me as I tossed plastic bottle caps into the back of a dump truck; he needed prompting only at "eight."
One sweet little girl was just learning to stand up. Her father was sitting next to her, and she would hold on to his knees, then grab his gray sweater and finally his beard as she pulled herself up to standing. Her dad explained that she actually learned to stand before she learned to sit back down again; "that was a problem," he said.
When it came time to open the presents, not only the birthday boy but all of his pals helped out. The wrapping paper was flying. And what an array of gifts, from books to stuffed creatures to games and BabyGap clothes! One special present was a carton of simple wooden blocks, made by the birthday boy's great-grandfather and passed down through the family.
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