Next Year at This Time

Today is a special day. Today my youngest son turns one year old. Hard to know for whom it is the greatest celebration... Jack because he is turning one or me and dad for making it through his first year. We'll celebrate this evening with his cousins, aunt, uncle, grandma and grandpa. Of course we'll have the requisite balloons, cake, party hat, and a couple of presents for him to open, but the thing about which I am most excited is the activity I am going to try.

I was a history major in college, so I find I am constantly in search of ways to document the life of my children. What does that have to do Jack's birthday? Tonight I will snap a Polaroid picture of each party goer. On the back of each person's picture I will ask them to write a prediction about some aspect of Jack's life in the upcoming year (first word, height, date when bottle gets the boot, injury in 2008-2009... or not, favorite toy, etc...). After the cake and ice cream has been eaten, I will seal the pictures in an envelope - not to be opened until his second birthday. Next year at this time, we will sit around the table reminiscing about who was at the party and deciding how accurate each of the predictions was. Then, we'll do it again for the next year and on and on it can go until Polaroid film is either discontinued or Jack isn't home to celebrate.

Tomorrow I'll let you know how it went. Until then, I'm signing off. I have cupcakes to bake.