Adventures in Parenting #43: King Baby Birthday

Some of the posts I write concerning my parenting experience include insightful thoughts on parenting or use "hilarious" stories to illustrate a broader point. This is not likely to be one of those. This is just a good old fashioned "here's what we did for our child's birthday" post. Maybe I'll write a more thoughtful piece on "what I learned in my first year of parenting" or something next week or maybe I'll save that for the book I'm probably not going to write but keep telling myself I am. Until then, though, this picture diary of the Coop's big day (or days) will have to do. Now, it should be mentioned that Coop's nickname is The King Baby. I'm sure I've made reference to this in the past. We call him this because A.) He just seems so ridiculously large compared to other babies and B.) He is incredibly demanding and his terrible parents usually have no choice but to acquiesce to his demands. Plus, he's big on sticking his belly out in the presence of those he wishes to impress and that's a classic, "Look how much food I can afford!" king move.

Anyway, because of this nickname, Lindsey decided that Cooper's birthday party should be royal themed. We picked out a few of Cooper's favorite things (swimming, playing with remote controls, balls of any variety, etc.) and created stations for him and his little buddies to take place in while the adult guests ate and mingled.

Lindsey made signs for each of the stations explaining their meaning and inviting his friends to join in:

Once the party got rolling, people took turns in receiving a royal audience on the King's throne:

Then we all adjourned to the royal banquet hall where the King enjoyed mass amounts of sugar for the very first time with his own cake:

He wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first (or with the 50 people staring at him):

But eventually he got the hang of it and dug in:

After that, it was time to receive the tributes from his royal subjects. Fun story: One of my non-parent friends texted me the day of to ask what to get Cooper for his birthday. My response was puffs and a remote control. Well, that's exactly what he got and the King couldn't have been happier:

His little friends helped him unwrap all of his presents, which included multiple toys, a wide assortment of remote controls, and a Rangers hat that is made for a much larger child but that actually fits him pretty well given the size of his giant head:

Then the King and his friends went for a friend which he usually loves. Just not so much this time:

And after sticking his finger in his friend's mouth:

...and going for a round of Sky Baby:

...the King finished up his night with a photo with his royal jesters:

On Saturday, I took the day off work (a treat for both the King and I) and Lindsey and I spent the morning hanging with our ONE YEAR OLD CHILD WHO CAN'T POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN HERE FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. Seriously, you guys. Strangely the fastest and slowest year ever.

Then we headed to Ol' South Pancake House where Coop experienced pancakes, french toast, eggs, and hashbrowns for the first time:

And after loading our already chubby child up on enough food for a horse, we headed to the Fort Worth Zoo:

We only stayed for a bit since it was so crowded but Coop went nuts. He talked the entire time, except when I tried to film him doing so at which point he would mysteriously shut down. Kids are jerks.

For the final portion of Cooper's Birthday Weekend Extravaganza, my family came over for a cookout and party, complete with screaming and yelling at the TV when Vince Carter hit this shot. I may have scared my son to death on his birthday but he's going to have to get acclimated to playoff basketball one way or another.

After dinner, we provided Coop with yet another cake of his very own and this time he was a little more sure of himself:

And even took time to give his mom a fist bump:

From there, we moved on to yet another round of gift giving ridiculousness:

Puppy Sister tried to steal Cooper's newly gifted stuffed rabbit:

And at the end of the night, his great grandpa bestowed upon him his very own handmade rocking horse...

...that I'm sure he'll learn to love eventually.

Overall, it was a very successful weekend of celebrating the coolest baby that I personally have ever met. We got to spend some quality time with our friends, our family, and our King Baby and create some new memories and traditions for his celebrations moving forward.

And after all the crazy of the weekend, we got a little more crazy this week when the King Baby got to help welcome his little King Cousin into the world:

Thanks everyone for coming out and partying with our kid and to everyone who has taken the time to read this blog over the last year! Hopefully we can keep it going for the years to come.

Can toddlers drink Red Bull? Brian