Pre-Birthday Party

 Christian's birthday is in two days and this week has felt eternal for him and for me.  He because he wants to get his presents.  Me because I can't wait to see him get his presents.  I'm just so sure he'll love them, it's killing me to postpone giving them to him.  So, we decided today to have a pre-birthday party-ish thing and invite a friend for a day of fun.  He decided to invite Marcus, who has been the one friend with whom he's had the most contact during covid.  They were in the same class last year and so he regularly did zoom school at Marcus's house and the two of them get along really well.  Marcus came with us to Defy, MOD pizza, our house, and the rec center.  The boys had a wonderful time.  Marcus did so much jumping at Defy that he upset his stomach and vomited all over the floor at MOD.  That was a bit of a downer.  We were all standing in line waiting to order when I looked over at him and noticed he didn't look well.

Me:  How are you doing?
Marcus: Not good
Me: Is your stomach upset?
Marcus: *nods*
Me: Are you still up for having pizza?
Marcus: *vigorous head shake as his cheeks start to puff out*

An instant later he vomited right there in line.  I could see that wasn't going to be the end of it, so I yanked his arm and dragged him as fast as I could out the front door where he lost the rest of his stomach contents.  The manager came with napkins and a trash can.  Then she came back out with a cup of water.  She was super nice about the whole thing.  She cleaned up the mess and kept asking if we needed anything.  I just sat him down in the outdoor seating area, which thank heavens, was empty, and he rested and sipped.  I went back inside and got Peter and handed my credit card to Christian.  He was worried about buying his pizza alone and paying for it with my card without me, but he was super proud of himself when he came out with his pizza all by himself.  It was a great growing up moment.  Poor Marcus left without pizza, but he left feeling better, so it was a win.  He was fine the whole rest of the day and greedily ate lunch at my house thereafter.  It was a full day without screens and with a great friend and it was wonderful for everyone involved.  I did learn, however, that Christian really needs some lessons on how to play better pool! Those boys really struggled.  Pool is a game that looks  a lot easier than it is.

Peter started to get tired after a while and he decided to lay down and rest.  When I advised him to lay somwhere else, he replied, "No, I sleep."  So I scooped him up and assured him he could sleep on the couch.  I laid him flat on it and he moved to sitting up and then declared,  "I sleep" and laid like this: