The Birthday Party Disinvite

Jackson is obsessed with turning five in August, despite the fact that he's just a few weeks past turning 4 and a half. He's already planning where he wants his birthday party, what kind of theme, and what he wants for his present(s). I hate to burst his bubble, but he's NOT going to get the gift at the top of his list, which just so happens to be a $350 John Deere gator. I'm such a mean mom like that.

Jackson's last two birthday parties have been at the local YMCA playroom which takes care of all the setup and clean up, and all I have to do is show up. That's my kind of party! This year I'm kinda wanting to move the party elsewhere, just to shake things up a bit, but at the same time, I definitely want a party place that will take care of most of the details for me. I'm checking out some other options in our area, from the zoo to skating rinks, and from bowling allies to pizza places, but I'm nowhere close to making a decison yet.

Meanwhile, as I'm beginning to think about options for his party, Jackson has been planning his invitation list to his party, and making stipulations every way you can think of deciding who can or can't come to his party based on some contrary decision that he thinks of off the top of his head. Over the last few days I've heard some of the most hairbrained ideas come out of my sweet child's mouth:

• You can only come to his birthday party if you are wearing green. Or yellow. Or red. Or blue. This is all based on whatever color Jackson just so happens to be wearing.
  
  
• You can only come to his birthday party if you have brown hair.
  
  
• You can only come to his birthday party if you read him a book before bed.
  
  
• You can only come to his birthday party if you stay on "green" at school.
  
  
• You can only come to his birthday party if you let him stay up past his bedtime.
  
  
• You can only come to his birthday party if you don't step on any of the cracks while you are walking around Walmart.

Are you seeing a trend here?

But my personal favorites are when Jackson gets mad at me for making him do something that he doesn't want to do, and then he tells me that I'm not allowed to go to his birthday party. When I ask him who's going to pay for his party if I'm not there, he tells me that I can go, but only long enough to pay. After that, I have to leave.

It's good to know that I'm still worth something to him, even if it does make me his Sugar Mama!