Gracie's 1st birthday invitation.

Before we get into details, Gracie ate dinner OUT at the diner WITHOUT NUTELLA last night!!!
I forgot the nutella!! Chris and I didn't know if we should just go or try it and stay. So we tried it. We got her chocolate pudding as a substitute, but she didn't really like it. But she ate oatmeal and applesauce anyway.

SO today we went to Gracie's first friend's party. One of her little friends from preschool, Elijah, gave her an invitation last week. Luckily, it was at BOUNCE U so I knew it would be ok. SHE LOVES it there so she was glad to go. She was hesitant to sit with the kids for the introduction video so she sat with Joy and I. Then when we went in she knew what to do.

Wether she knew it was different from any other day at Bounce U, I don't know.  Only 1 of her little girl friends was there and Elijah was the birthday boy so she just ran around on her own. She loves the big slide. Elijah's mom was awesome! She told me that when she asked him who he wanted to invite from his class, he really wanted to invite Gracie. Her little classmates are so sweet. They love her.

She didn't do so well when the party moved in for cake. She sat at the table with the kids for maybe 5 minutes. She was watching them to see what they were doing.They were blowing on kazoos and that got her attention and when I gave her hers, she knew what to do with it. But once that was done, she was done. She gave me the all done sign. I made her wait. Tried to get her something to drink. But it was too loud and too crowded. She gave me the all done sign  two more times with a vocalization .So  I said our goodbyes to Elijah's mom , who was really sweet and we made our way out with 2 cupcakes from Elijah's gram.

I think I was just as stressed as she was. Everyday I hope for her to be like the other kids. 

Sometimes, it just breaks my heart when she doesn't get to experience things like typical kids. But I didn't want to force her and end up in a melt down, so I thought it best to just exit without a scene.  But she should be able to sit and have cake, like the others. She has to work SO HARD for EVERYTHING. 

Anyway, she came home and relaxed a while but at the end of the night we had a full fledged melt down because I made her stop using YOUTUBE( she likes the drum videos) . We haven't had one of those in a LONG time. I think she was just over stimulated, and stressed because it was something new. 

Then I was stressed when we got home. We play off of each other. 

My baby girl deserves a break but we just have to keep working.