There's something about birthday girls

Vir was invited to his first ever birthday party yesterday. He made his way to the second floor of our building dressed to kill and armed with a birthday present that he thought was his to rip the wrapping paper off and proceeded to be far from a model guest in this new social situation. He started off by sitting grumpily in a corner in a room full of babies ranging from 7 months to a year in age and completely refusing to chit chat and be sociable. I thought that was fine since he was sleepy from a broken nap. But when he was done with his let-me-take-this-all-in-and-choose-my-reaction time, he proceeded to grunt, make his way to the center of the group, and rip the paper mat all the little guests were sitting on to pieces. The girls in the group were understandably confused by this behavior, but the one other boy there (who is a few months younger but promises to follow on Vir's footsteps) was thrilled and completely understood that this is in fact a fun thing to do. He joined in as best he could and Vir and Jay had fun time with what was once a clean paper mat.

Vir's next target was the birthday girl, who was dressed up as a fairy (or a butterfly?) Her wings were obviously tempting...who wouldn't want to grab and pull at those things? I had to lift him and put him in a little round play pen in the room. The birthday girl, Inaya, joined him there in a bit. He bullied her so much that I had to lift him out eventually. Love was beginning to blossom by this time, so Vir and Inaya spent the next 15 minutes holding hands and "talking" to each other across the wall of the play pen. It was the cutest thing to watch - this little lovey-dovey conversation, and I think they may be friends after all...till she realizes he's too much to handle and dumps him.

The other highlight was a dance performance from him in her honor. Vir has become quite the dancer now with a whole array of steps up his sleeve - from the slow side to side swaying, to jerking his head up and down like a camel and alternating this with a little butt shake. Sometimes, when he's really carried away by the music, he bends down all the way to the floor and does a little jig. I have video recordings which will be fun to show his girlfriend one day.

All in all, he has some work to do on his social skills, but everyone had a good time and that's what counts!