Open: The difference between arson and a birthday party is the number of candles.

[biteybaby]

On the day of her birthday, Sagramore takes Sunny out for an early ride on Fenyes. The foal is due any week now, but Sunny is so little that it’s fine for her to sit on top of Fenyes’ back, in the groove that seems perfectly made for a rider, while Sagramore leads her around by the bridle – and it keeps them out of the house long enough for Laertes and Magnus to put the plan of her party into action.

Laertes uses the brief window of time well--he has his cake pans selected, his parchment paper already cut to shape, and his chocolate frosting mixed ahead of time, and all that remains is to mix the chocolate cake batter and to bake it. To delight his daughter's many teeth, he's selected a mix of sprinkles with several different textures of crunch.

For her part, Sunny knows several things. She knows her birthday is likely very soon, and that Magnus thinks she should have a party. They talked about it some, back at the wedding. She also knows that they are going to have company over today, though she didn’t give that much thought, as they often have company over, and nobody specified how many people would be arriving. However, she has yet to put these facts together, and as a result is unaware that her birthday and subsequent party are today.

Magnus has been secreting things away in the shed where he and Galahad found Drosera for weeks — they're not precisely close, but they're close enough that he can move things over in fairly short order. The crucial supplies include several card tables, a KIERKLAAND-brand dinosaur-themed bounce house and slide with an attached battery-powered blower, with enough stakes that it should be fine for an adult to go in with her whenever she wants, and so many balloons, streamers, and ribbons. A more recent addition to the lot includes loads of additional party-appropriate snacks: crudités trays with dips, apples for slicing with caramel dippers on the side, and a couple of kinds of chips. Also, most importantly, Magnus's gifts.

Once the bouncy house is anchored to the ground and inflating, Magnus starts setting up the tables, tying balloons to ribbons and arraying them around the tables and yard and, frankly, tossing the streamers all over the place. Finally, and based in part on some magazine articles he's read on throwing parties and showers (a birthday party for a two year old is basically a baby shower, right?) he puts out some signs: GIFTS GO HERE on one card table, and BOOKS GO HERE on another. (They asked each attendee to bring a book to contribute to Sunny's personal library in lieu of cards in the party invitations, preferably a children's book with personal meaning and significance but with no true limitations.) The final card table gets the polaroid camera and some silly costume components — funny hats, disguise glasses, feather boas — so people can document the occasion. He has secret plans to take the resulting photos and make a little album of them for the family.

So it is that when Sagramore finally brings Sunny home again, riding on his shoulders, everything is ready for her – including Sagramore’s own gift, as abysmally wrapped as one might imagine, and sitting on the outside eating table, which has been reserved for that purpose.

Sunny has never seen a party so large before, that clearly took so much planning. Her first birthday party, though lovely and a lot of fun, was nothing like this. Her eyes dart all around, at all of her friends who have come, all of the gifts they were kind enough to bring for her, and at all of the activities her family have planned, all with her in mind. There's an overwhelming mix of emotions running through her small body, but she quickly settles on happy and excited. She wipes a couple of rogue tears from her cheeks before turning to her Apu, pointing at the bounce house, and asking, "Can I go jump?"

Comments

[biteybaby]

Sunny rolls out of the bounce house and then runs directly over to where she sees Galahad. "Galad!" she says, giving him a big leg hug. "Magnu got adopded! Also Magnu said present time."

[summerdude]

"Present time," Magnus echoes, inviting himself into the hug, too, slinging an arm around Galahad's shoulders and resting his other on Sunny's head.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad hugs them both back, Magnus properly with one arm, and Sunny by leaning his leg into her embrace. "Which present would you like first? There are three."

[biteybaby]

She thinks about this, then holds up two fingers. "Present two!" She thinks she should open the second present, whatever one that is, first. Because she's two today!

[summerdude]

"Did we number them?" Magnus stage-whispers to Galahad. "Which one is number two?"

[onthewillowsthere]

For a moment, Galahad is about to answer seriously (they did not, of course, number the gifts), but he catches Magnus' eye and says slowly, "Sunny, we may not remember which one is two. You may have to help us."

[biteybaby]

“Big middle small. One two three!” This should clear things up.

[summerdude]

Magnus had been genuinely asking Galahad if there was a system, so this turn toward soliciting Sunny's wisdom is a delightful one. "You're getting so good at counting," he compliments her. "That sounds right, doesn't it, Galahad? Two is the middle present?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"The middle present. I believe so." He opens his messenger bag and takes out the larger of the two packages, which is soft and squishy.

[biteybaby]

Sunny holds it for a moment, squishing it through the paper and listening to the crinkly noises. Then she very carefully opens it, setting the ripped paper in a neat little pile next to her. What she discovers is a blanket with green and blue stripes! As she looks at it more though, she realizes that it isn't just a blanket, it's more like a bag made out of blanket, and perfectly Sunny sized. She immediately tosses it over her head and giggles, running around in a circle until her feet trip over the bottom edge and she falls. She is still giggling.

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs and goes over to help her up. "You're our little pupa," he tells her. "Our little snug bug in a cocoon... rug."

[onthewillowsthere]

"You can sleep in it and awaken in the adult stage of your life cycle."

[biteybaby]

Sunny bends her knees so she bobbles up and down repeatedly inside the cocoon. "AaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAaaaaAAAAAaaaah," she says softly while bobbling. She does sound a bit like a motion activated Halloween decoration.

[summerdude]

"What kind of bug are you going to be when you come out?" Magnus asks, and then slants a look -- and associated grin -- at Galahad. "I mean, what kind of insect?"

[onthewillowsthere]

This is not a joke, it's just linguistic accuracy! Galahad looks blankly back at him. He may be playing up the blankness just a little.

[biteybaby]

"Wasp! Watch out!" She wiggles her knitted-cocoon-covered butt.

[summerdude]

Magnus cackles, pulling Galahad in for a side hug. "Are you gonna sting everyone?" he asks Sunny.

[onthewillowsthere]

"You must choose your wasp carefully. There are social wasps and solitary wasps."

[biteybaby]

She pauses to think, which should be obvious to both Magnu and Galahad, because she stops wiggling. Finally she says, "Social. Want friends."

[summerdude]

"Are you going to be the wasp queen, little bug?" Magnus glances over at Galahad over her head and mouths, Wasps have queens too, right?

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad nods to Magnus. "Vespula germanica is a medium-bodied, social wasp of Europe with great flexibility at foraging and hunting for food," he intones, solemn as ever. "They have tolerable cognitive plasticity and are able to update their mental maps rapidly if a food source is removed."

[biteybaby]

“I vepsla queen!” she announces, then goes over to poke her butt against Magnu’s leg. This is obviously how you sting someone.

[summerdude]

"You stung me!" Magnus cries, pulling his leg up so he can wrap around where she bumped it, hopping on one foot in a way he hopes makes her laugh. "You got me!"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Magnus, you are done for."

[biteybaby]

Sunny backs up against Galahad's leg now, being very careful because it's a little hard to see through the cocoon blanket, which she is definitely still wearing. "Zzz!"