Hello, Seven!

On Thursday, Henry turned 7. Yes, 7. I have a child who is seven. Here he is that morning:

And later that day, wearing one of his favorite gifts, which he also wore to Dollar Tree and Wal Mart.

On his birthday, he also happened to have a field trip. As a former teacher, I can appreciate the work and planning and stress that goes into a field trip. As a parent, I can appreciate the sacrifice chaperones make spending unspecified amounts of time with other people's obnoxious children. (Because my child is not at all obnoxious. Ever.) So, earlier this year we went to the ballet. I don't remember if I blogged about it, but every time a male ballet participant (ballerino? did I make that joke last time?) came onstage, the lone little girl in my group loudly whispered to me, "Eeeeeeew! That's NASTY." It was very entertaining. She was so cute. She held my hand and sat with me on the bus.

On this field trip, I was happy to see that she was in my group again, and we (the group) were sitting outside eating our lunch and talking about the cupcakes I had brought in for Henry's birthday. I was informing them all of The Plan, which was that we would eat them (the cupcakes, not the children) when we got back to school. We had the following conversation:

Girl: On my birthday, they wouldn't let my mom and dad come in and have cupcakes.

Me: Oh, really?

Girl: I think it's 'cause I'm black.

Me: I don't think that's why.

Anyway, the field trip went on and on, as field trips tend to do, and the kids were rowdy enough that museum security followed us around. None of the kids listened to me when I told them to line up and put bubbles in their mouth and all the other tricks elementary teachers use. It was a real blow to my ego. And further proof that I am not cut out to teach elementary school. Ever. (As if I needed any.) But Henry had fun, and I checked him out early and let him have a second cupcake in the car, which was a birthday double bonus. We went to a restaurant of his choice for dinner that night. (TooJay's-- he likes their mac-n-cheese) Tomorrow we are having a small pool party for him. Also, as a special birthday treat, we took him to the GRU energy fair today (seriously--this is because we couldn't find a power plant to host his birthday party). While there, he won a backpack with a recycling (his first science-love) logo on it, and got to see a real solar panel up close. Anyone who sees Henry on a regular basis these days knows he is obsessed with solar panels. I wish I had remembered to take a picture. He was intrigued/ explaining to the solar panel representative how solar panels work. (Future scientist!)

Speaking of scientists, I got him these fake eyeglasses because he had been asking for some, so he was wearing them yesterday when my friend Allison said, "You look like a scientist!" I think she made his day.

One more thing. Today we went to a Build-A-Bear party for his little (girl) friend. He picked out a shamrock printed bear and a police uniform for it. (How cliche.) He came in here just now with the bear to work on an erector set race car, and I just heard him tell the bear, "You can watch me and make sure I don't do anything wrong."