We had a great time at Alison's celebrating Joel's 26th birthday last night. She had--per his request--both meat loaf and salmon, plus scalloped potatoes and so on, and I brought the candied carrots.
It was the cake, though, that was best. She and Joely had made it on Saturday, when both he and 5-month-old Tristan stayed over. Why? Because Jen had thrown Joel a surprise party for a few friends.
Joely is so cute and funny. He is a big helper, putting the candles on the cake, bringing the dessert plates out to the table, feeding Lulu, and generally making himself useful. Alison repeated something he had asked Mike the night before: "Grandpa Mike, did you have a nice Dad like me when you were little?" He's crazy about his Dad. Joely zoomed around on the floor with Alison's "exercise wheel" to the great amusement of "T-Bone" (which they've taken to calling Tristan), who smiled, giggled, then laughed out loud.
Joel had given Jen a bike for Christmas and she gave him one, too. However, the "bike" is a -gulp!--motorcycle, which makes me nervous, of course, but he intends to drive it to work.
Anyway, it was a wonderfully relaxed and fun evening. Little "T" is so cute. He also zooms around, but in his walker, and he's trying to crawl, but hasn't yet gotten the knack. Joel pulls him around, sometimes very fast, but T seems to like that.
The only sad note was Lulu. When we got there, Alison went out to help Pat into the house. I walked in, hung up my coat, and put the carrots in the kitchen, assuming Little Lulu was out in the yard. But she wasn't, she was just in the next room; she's become so deaf she didn't hear me.
Poor Lu. She always used to--literally--jump for joy when anybody came in. No matter how often she was told not to, she would pounce on the newcomer, wiggling with happiness, then race up and down, then come back to show her excitement--she was a nuisance. Yesterday when she noticed we were there, she let us pet her and she wagged her tail, but quietly, not the way she used to. Now I wish she could be a nuisance again.
Aside from that, it was a wonderful evening. Got home a little before 9 and shortly went to bed, skipping my wine and popcorn. I had had both salmon and meatloaf, as well as a small slice of cake and some ice cream, but I didn't want to push it.