Yesterday we had birthday party to go to for one of Sydney’s old school friends. Since she hasn’t seen her friends in over a month we weren’t sure exactly how well that would work. You know that out of site out of mind theory we thought that might work better for us, but we let her decide. So as I was on the phone with the birthday girls mom explaining the situation Sydney walked up to me tugged at my arm and said, “I want to go to her party, let’s get ready.” So in 10 minutes away the family went on our way to the party. Birthday parties are always dicey. We can never be sure what triggers a happy party and what triggers a sad party but we have learned not to expect anything and take it all in stride.

We knocked on the door and Sydney hid behind me a little bit but the Birthday girl was able to say hello and tell her to come on in. A huge dark cloud had been following us part of the way and everyone was inside when we arrived. It was a little overwhelming for Sydney to walk into that scenario so she hid behind me peeking out to see who was there and what was going on. I continued to say hello to my friends I hadn’t seen in a while and we mingled and roamed through the party.

The sky cleared and the party moved back outside. The kids at this point had been all sugared up and there were soccer balls flying, kids on the little play structure and kids attempting to climb up my husbands arm to get to the pinata that was just about to be smacked. And Syndey…she was in the middle of it all, taking it all in and smiling. No tears, no tugging at us to get her out of their. She optioned not to hit the pinata but did watch and enjoy the antics of the kids.

The moment that surprised me most was the gift opening. She was determined to see what her friend was opening up. So much so that she asked her friend to move so she could see. Sydney had picked the gift for her friend and it sat inside a enviromentally friendly bag so the birthday girl was able to peek inside.  She loved the gift and Sydney looked so proud that she had picked it.

The party was a hit! Sydney told people about her new pet and she didn’t shed a tear until it was time to leave. Good job Syd we knew you could do it!