Last week, the Worm turned one-year old.  To celebrate his awesomeness, we threw him a party!  We invited 30 people whom he didn’t know, provided lots of food he couldn’t eat, and made him stay up late when he didn’t want to.

In short, the party was for us!  Hooray!

But before the festivities commenced, my good friend Ted carried out a Taoist ceremony for entering life’s path.  Steph and I figured that Gavin could use all the help he could get, so why not bring in the blessings of the gods?  (No chickens were sacrificed during the ceremony, only monkeys.)  We invited our parents and a few friends for the cozy spiritual service.

Worm and I Can Be On Life's Path Together!

After the ceremony, there was good food and drink to be had!  All were merry!  With a Mexican theme, we rolled out the salsa, carne asada, carnitas, y cervezas!  (Don’t worry, Worm didn’t drink any beer.  He had tequila!)  Thanks C & E for helping us with the food and preparation!

It was a nice, warm San Diego day and we spent much of the celebration outside on the patio.

In the American first birthday tradition, two cakes were made.  (Steph told me it’s a tradition…I’d never heard of it.)  One for us to eat and enjoy, and one for Worm to eat and enjoy.  It’s pretty well understood that the baby’s cake is one that will probably end up splattered rather than sliced, and worn rather than eaten.

Naturally for Worm, his birthday cake was in the shape of a monkey.  (I asked for it to be in the shape of a Worm, but I was vetoed by Steph and Nana…but they promised me that his 2nd birthday could have a Worm-shaped cake.)

Lo and behold, our baby didn’t smash his birthday cake.  In fact, he asked for a fork to savor each morsel.  (He also asked for some sangria, but we declined.)

At the end of an unmessy event, the Worm looked like this:

 

Should We Freeze The Cake And Reuse it For His 2nd Birthday?

Worm partied well into the late evening until fiesta turned into siesta.

 

Happy First Birthday Gavin!