Caleb's First Fireworks Experience

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! This was Caleb's first conscious 4th of July, and the first time he was able to stay up for the fireworks. I wasn't sure if he would enjoy them, or if he would be scared of them (I took him through the car wash last week, thinking it would be fun for him. Instead, it terrorized him and every time we get into the car now he says, "No carwash!"). When I told him we were going to a party, and talked about all the people we were going to see, he got very excited. Then I saw a little lightbulb go on and he said, "And I eat cake?!" He apparently associates all parties with cake - luckily Grammy MuMu brought giant cupcakes, so Caleb was more than happy. After we talked about all the people we would see, I said, "and we'll see fireworks up in the sky." Caleb got a very concerned look on his face and said, "I don't want to see fire." Stormy told be that Kellen was kind of freaked out about the fireworks, too, so we decided to call them "lights in the sky."

Caleb had a blast hanging out and playing with his cousins and some new friends. He hardly ate anything for dinner (surprise, surprise), but was happy to scarf down a rather large portion of a giant cupcake (chocolate, of course). Five minutes later he was having a sugar-rush like I've never seen before. He was jumping up and down in his walker and talking so fast - I think his mouth couldn't keep up with his brain at that point. About a 45 minutes later it was time to sit on the lawn and watch the fireworks...oh sorry, the lights in the sky. By this time Caleb was CRASHING from his sugar high. He sat on my lap under a blanket. At first he was a little concerned about the noise the fireworks made, but got over it quickly since they were about 3-4 miles away. He then LOOOVED the lights in the sky, and was perfectly fine calling them fireworks. He still talks about how, "I love a fireworks!" and lists the colors that he saw. I'm so glad that he truly enjoyed this experience, and it wasn't just another opportunity to terrorize him.