dinosaur birthday parties

This past week has been unusually festive at our house. Sam has latched onto the idea of "dinosaur birthday parties" (he throws parties to celebrate the "birthday" of his dinosaur figurines), and we have had several parties each day. Each party consists of the following events:

1) Humans and dinosaurs don party hats.

2) Sam will inform both me (and the dinosaur-of-honor) that it is the dinosaur's birthday. The conversation unfolds something like this:

• Sam: "Today is Mr. Stegasaurus' birthday!"
• Me [in a dinosaur voice of disbelief]: "It is?!?!? How old am I?"
• Sam: "You are [insert number between one and five] years old!"
• Me [as dinosaur]: "I am?!?! Hooray!"

3) We sing "Happy Birthday" to the dinosaur. After singing the song for several hours on Tuesday, I decided to buy a toy birthday cake which would play the song instead. Not only has it given my vocal chords some rest, but it also helps make our party seem more "real." Plus, the toy plays "Happy Birthday" at a fast tempo, which has become essential for me in terms of time (see Step #9).

4) We clap and cheer after the dinosaur "blows out" the "candles."

5) We eat imaginary cake.

6) We give imaginary presents and watch the dinosaur "unwrap" them.

7) We play with party favors.

8) (Optional) We play a game. We either play hide-and-go seek (I hide the dinosaurs and Sam finds them) or do an activity in Sam's dinosaur coloring book.

9) (And this is the most important step) Repeat Step 1 - Step 8 over and over and over.

Although I have gotten tired of parties at various points this week, it's really cute to see Sam so excited. We've had a pretty fun time. Here are some pictures of our recent celebrations: