Magnus Turns 7 (Anders Busts His Head)

This year Magnus' birthday fell on a Sunday and we were able to celebrate over a weekend in style.  Instead of inviting his whole school class, we had a close celebration with family and close friends, including a sleepover with the Cody family. In following Swedish tradition, we "surprised" Magnus in bed with song, flowers, and presents.

Cards and gifts came from near and far, and our least attention seeking child was finally the center of attention. After opening presents we sat down to a special breakfast of brioche bread pudding, before I started running around to get ready for the party.

We were blessed with prime Fall San Francisco weather (a.k.a summer weather) for our picnic party at Crissy Field.  We invited guests to bring dogs, bikes, and sand toys for a day of food and relaxation.  I didn't go all out on cooking this time, making side salads abd opting to order Argentinean empenadas.  Farmor and Lola came through on decorations and all the other stuff you need to host 40 people outdoors. Alvin and Lolo helped by reserving the picnic benches in the early morning.

One of the stars of the party was a rogue gopher, who enjoyed peeking out of his burrow to check out our party.  With zoonotic disease on my mind I told the kids, "Don't pet the gopher! It's all fun and games until someone gets the plague!"

In keeping with the Minecraft theme, Magnus chose a carrot cake and topped it with homemade TNT candles. Looking at this photo I thought about how none of these kids realize how lucky they are, to be growing up and celebrating in such a beautiful place. After cake the kids were given some free time that resulted in a minor catastrophe.

Some boys were playing on top of a picnic table when Anders urged Magnus "Come and fight me!" With a single shove Anders flew off the table and landed on his head. Crying and screaming ensued, to which I responded somewhat slowly.  (Seriously, someone is always crying or hurt in my family.) When I arrived I noticed more than expected amounts of blood trickling from his forehead. A quick look and I knew Anders needed to go the ER for stitches.  After a flurry of activity involving half of the party helping with first aid, I was able to clean Anders off, close his head wound, and send him off with Mattias.

But the party must go on, and it did.  The kids lined up to beat up the Ghast piñata, my first made out of corrugated cardboard. After some 4 rounds of kids hitting, I took a turn myself, we finally made a hole big enough to dump out all the candy and toys.

The rest of the party was incredibly low key.  The kids relished in their semiautonomous time together, and since I invited my friends I was able to catch up and enjoy the gorgeous day in the company of some of my favorite people.

By late afternoon we made our way home and so did Anders. He was seen within 5 minutes of arriving at the Kaiser ER, and was given excellent care by the doctor and nurses there.  Anders shed not a single tear and even left the ER with a toy prize.  I too got a prize-- the nurses complemented my wound closure and said to Mattias "You don't even need us!"

I recognized one small triumph that day-- for the first time Magnus' birthday wasn't a reminder of the sorrow we felt when we discovered his birth defect.  Magnus is the kid at the playground that all the boys want to play with, the one with the fun ideas and great sense of humor. Today, at 7 years old, his curiosity, joy, and wonder eclipses that small part of him that caused so much worry and sadness. After opening gifts and cleaning up we ate a dinner of leftover party food and cake.  Too tired to move, we group snuggled on the couch and looked back at all that happened in a single day.