D2's Double Digits

D2 turned 10 this month, bringing the whole family into the double digits.

He'd been planning the party for months, a festival of ninja training with a couple dozen activities to be completed in various locations.  We helped him narrow it down to things that would work at home.  He made up the invitations and emailed them out, and even called a couple of people to make sure they had received the invitations.

And then . . . only one friend came.  The boys helped him make a foam-noodle sword, which seems to have become standard party practice here, and they did some dueling.  And they played inside and outside, together and separately, and I think they had a good time.

The cake turned out pretty well, if I may say so myself, thanks to parchment paper, white chocolate chips, a tube of ready-made black icing (not that gel stuff, but real frosting in a tube that fits with decorating tips), and my calligraphy training.  I added lime flavors to the white cake mix, so the cake tasted good, too, and with the friend's mother, we ate the whole thing in one sitting.

There was no cake left for D2's real birthday, but I think a big doughnut for breakfast and ice cream at teatime made it a festive day, anyway.

I crocheted this for him, at his request.  It represents Nadakhan, an antagonistic djinn character in the Lego Ninjago show, which D2 sneakily watches via YouTube.

I don't think my creation looks much like the character on the show, but it does look just like the picture D2 drew for me to work from.  And he likes it, so it's a success.

He's also obsessed with cats, so I thought I'd give him one that wouldn't make me sneeze.  (Come on, genetic engineers, can't you breed some cats with acrylic fur?)

I used Little Bear Crochet's pattern for a stretching cat.  The face reminds me more of a bear, actually, but I'm not sure what I could do about it.  And D2 knows it's a cat, and likes it, too.

He's in fifth grade this year, at the top of the heap now that the sixth graders have gone off to middle school.  It's kind of hard to believe, since he's still my littlest guy.  But he's growing up nicely.

Happy birthday, D2!