What a day! We celebrated this major milestone with all of Calder's closest friends. Jef made a wonderful cake, that Calder couldn't wait to sink his teeth...I mean hands, into! Calder's Grandpa Bontrager reports:

What a day yesterday (11/13)was! Calder was happy to have his Mommy and Daddy around, and he wasn't too sure about those two strangers. They seemed nice enough, but Mommy & Daddy were definitely better. But they kept pushing him off to the strangers. He tried his best to be charming and funny, but somehow he wasn't able to win Mommy's & Daddy's full attention.

Things got worse as the morning wore on. Mommy & Louis got busy in the kitchen, and Calder had to stay out. His favorite books and toys really weren't all that appealing nor were Grandpa's attentions. He wanted attention from the No. 1 people in his life.

Jenn had worked for days making the birthday cake. On Friday she and Louis rolled out balls of green dough into flat circles that they lay out to dry over the bottoms of up-turned Dixie cups. Then late Friday nite or early Saturday morning she used the same material, dyed brown, to make tree trunks. Those she decorated with yellow climbing snakes and gray elephant trunks.

The cake was 5-layer chocolate with raspberry icing between layers. The outside, however, was covered with brown, and the decorated tree trunks were lined up all around it with black-&-white eyes peering out from between near the elephant trunks. The green circle tree tops went on top of the cake, and giraffe heads towered above it all.

Later we left Jenn in the kitchen to continue preparing. We men went downstairs to the lobby and began setting up for the party. Alec had taken long, cardboard paper rolls and painted them brown. Then he disappeared while Louis & I kept Calder entertained as we assempled a jig-saw mat of colored letters and numbers. When Alec returned, he had loads of helium baloons, most of them green, and some of them in animal patterns. We dropped the strings of 5 balloons thru' the cardboard rolls, pulled the balloons down w/in 2 inches of the tops of the rolls, and anchored them. They were little trees. The helium kept them standing upright, and the cardboard roll kept them from floating off the ground. Together the trees made a little jungle. Right there in the lobby of the condo complex.

Soon guests began arriving. Most were from the Mommy and Me group that Jenn and Calder attend. Others were from Jenn & Alec's work or from the condo. Joan and Chuck were there, of course, and Marie Weitzman showed up as well. At last the day began to be fun for Calder. He had so many friends to play with. And Mommy and Daddy gave him their full attention.

The children took immediately to the mat of colored letters and numbers. We'd brought down baskets of Calder's toys, and soon everyone found something to do. The parents were talking, and everybody was eating. In addition to chips, veggies, and dip, we served chicken and beef taquitos, cream cheese stuffed jalapenos, and Mexican lasagne. Joan had made the last dish. She also made slushy margaritas, and the adults really liked them. Everything was very good.

Soon it was time to blow out the candle and cut the cake. Jenn had made homemade chocolate and vanilla ice cream. She had also made lion paw cookies with almond slivers for claws. Very cute.

Before we knew it, people were saying good-bye. Each child had a bag of party favors that contained, among other things, an animal puppet. The bag was labeled with a card that had the child's name and a picture of the animal that matched the animal that Alec had designed for the party invitation.

Back in the condo, Calder opened his many presents. Like most 1-year-olds, he was more fascinated with the cards and boxes than with the gifts themselves. But given time to focus on each, he'll understand better what he received. He got a number of board books, several Lego kits, toys, and several sets of clothes.