Gabriel and Julian go to Gina's birthday party

Next year, I'm doing what Betsy did for Gina: a party at The Little Gym. An hour and a half long, the kids LOVE playing in the gym area, there's a separate room for cake that can get trashed, and they provide little water bottles as party favors.

Once again, the boys' personalities shone through. Gabriel wasted no time in running around like mad, laughing his head off nonstop. I remember wondering in swim class when he was a toddler if I thought so just because I was his mother, or was he really the most enthusiastic child there? I found myself wondering that again, because he was utterly exuberant.

At one point, they did a parachute time thing, and the teachers asked the group of kids the colors of the panels on the parachute, and as soon as the teacher put her hand on a panel, Gabriel jumped out with the answer. I wonder if he's like that in school, very eager to participate and shout out the answer?

Gina was adorable in wound-up pigtail braids (her Aunt Alice loves to do her hair) and pink dress. Next week, Gina and Gabriel start swim classes together, yay!

Julian, on the other hand, stood like a statue staring at all the kids. Even when the activity was to run in a circle, he so steadfastly refused to move that he ended up in the middle of the circle. The knowledgeable teachers tried to draw him in, knowing that often a kid is just being clingy, but that wasn't it. If I left him, he still wouldn't move, it wasn't about me! Just like in music class, it became almost comical, with my mom friends coming back to me from time to time to laugh and ask me what on earth was with him? He wouldn't budge!

Then, out of nowhere, Julian kicked into gear, and then challenged Gabriel in the exuberation department, running like crazy and laughing. He did so just before the teachers brought out a big basket of balls -- perfect! So, despite his usual slow start, he had a great time too.

I got mad at Gabriel for pushing Julian flat on his face too many times though. I never know where to draw the line: what is just brother rough-housing, and what is just not right? I fretted about this so much that I had dreams that night that Gabriel was tumbling Baby#3 against a wall. Gabriel's pushing wasn't malicious, but had it been on concrete, it would have hurt. As it was, Julian just got up laughing, and Gabriel never touched anyone else. I never know what to do.