When we were going through Trevor's things so he could pack for college, we found his collection of many-times-used wrapping paper. Between the ages of about 4 to 6, he would wrap his toys, then throw a party in his bedroom for whichever of his stuffed animals' birthdays it was. (Trevor LOVED stuffed animals.) After many, many parties, the wrapping paper was barely paper anymore, covered in a ton of tape. Most of the Animal Birthday Parties took place when Grandma was visiting, though I attended my fair share as well.
18-year old Trevor and I did find some treasures amongst the tattered wrapping paper. 5-year old Trevor and I had made birthday cards that could be presented to the Birthday Animal, then tucked away to be reused at the next party. He was in a phase where he enjoyed cutting pieces of scrapbook paper he liked into squares and gluing them to things.
Trevor was (and is) a rule follower. He would never have broken a rule, but he loved pretending that some of the party guests were misbehaving. Apparently, Trevor and Grandma kept a notebook documenting each of the stuffed animals' less-than-perfect behavior. Trevor titled the list "Bad." Most of the entries are in Grandma's handwriting, but Trevor wrote about Fins and Jagy himself.
For the record, Coyote is a coyote. Flops is a rabbit. Horse is a horse. Snake is a snake. Fins is a seal. Puppet Fish is a fish. Seaweed is an otter. Ears is a rabbit. Bones is a dog. Jagy is a jaguar.
If I had to guess, most of the behaviors Trevor and Grandma documented were ones Trevor had actually seen at birthday parties or in his kindergarten classroom. But not all, hopefully. Flops was mad because he didn't get to go to the party and Snake was mad because he never gets to go to parties, yet they were right there in the same room. They had to watch the rest playing, knowing they weren't invited! This would make me mad too. Sad, actually. Sorry, Flops and Snake. I hope you enjoyed future Animal Birthday Parties.
Such fun memories of special times with my creative little boy!
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