Who Needs Glasto?

I have had an amazing weekend. And there was no mud. And no Bono.

Today, The Toddler turned 2. And to mark this momentous occasion, the little diva got not one, but two birthday parties. She is a very lucky lady. As am I, because I have a fantastic mother, who helped me throw the first one, and a fantastic mother-in-law, who threw the second one.

The first one was a barbecue at my house. Husband got very excited at the prospect of buying a barbecue and truly becoming a man, who makes fire and burns meat. I was quite worried for most of the week that it would rain, but that everyone I invited would turn up anyway. 25 adults and 10 children will not fit into my new-build, shoebox house. But after a frightening start to the day, the weather was glorious, and we had a very nice time. But I have realised that this is probably the last year I get to throw The Toddler the kind of party I like - lots of nice food and chatting to grown-ups while the children run around and throw themselves down a tiny plastic slide. My only concessions to kiddyness were said slide, a very small, borrowed bouncy castle (that I didn't even arrange), some party bags (which were rubbish, and I forgot to give to most people) and two bags of cheesey Wotsits (one of which I accidentally set fire to). Next year, The Toddler and her friends will probably not be satisfied with these things, and I'll have to do things like organise activities, and buy prizes, and put more in the party bags than a box of raisins and a bouncy ball. Maybe I'll even have to do something drastic like hire a soft play. Ugh.

The second party was at my mother-in-law's house. She, having 6 grandchildren under the age of 6, is much better at the kiddy things than me, and there was a very big bouncy castle, and individual snack boxes with little sandwiches, tubs of grapes, and chocolate biscuits in them. The Toddler liked these. She went round picking discarded boxes up from around the garden, and eating whatever she found in there. She had a wonderful time. She is now sunburned (she had factor 50 on, honest!), sticky and very, very tired. So tired, that tonight, The Very Hungry Caterpillar ate through one piece of cherry pie, one cupcake and one watering can, apparently.

I must be very tired too. As I cannot at all remember what else I was going to say, or what the point of this post was.