February 3, 2002 - Sunday
We had our annual Super Bowl party again this year. It's a bit different than it used to be now that we have kids. We still make chili and have beer, but the chili isn't as hot and the beer not as prevalent and the crowd has changed a little. This is the first Super Bowl for Jeremy, of course, and he won't remember anything about it. And, it's the first party that Harry may well remember, at least for a while. He's old enough now understand that we're having a party, although it's the first party in his memory that didn't involve him opening presents.

Harry's also in a phase now where he's a little timid of new or unexpected people. We warned him about the upcoming party, but he was still rather shy when the first guests arrived, even though his grandparents were among them. But after the initial hesitation, Harry simply amazed me with his social skills for the entire time he was awake. He ate a solid dinner, even though his parents were running around and it was his grandma sitting with him. He showed no inhibitions about the crowd or the sea of chairs set up in the living room to watch the game. And, he aggressively enticed his older cousin to give him more than his quota of M&Ms. One of my favorite moments of the night, aside from the best Super Bowl game and best result ever, was watching Harry pick up his little chair from the corner of the room, move it through the gathered legs with calls of "here comes Harry," set it down in the front, and sit down to watch the game. Of course, his interest looking up at the big screen lasted less than a minute before he was up and running around again, but he was certainly getting into the spirit of things.


Comments, Opinions?