My cousin's little boy is three days older than Genevieve. L. decided to have his party at Gymboree in Concord. I'd begged off Genevieve's Gymboree party as being too early on a Sunday, but I really had no reason to wiggle out of this one, unless the weather was too bad for it. Rich had his fingers crossed, I'm sure, but it was clear enough on the roads to travel.

We left the house about 2. The trip down to Concord was uneventful, and we found the mall quickly. The party was to start at 4:30, so once we'd located the Gymboree, we explored the mall, especially a game store. Rich wanted to see Cost Plus, but I got antsy because it's too cramped and crowded, so I stood outside. Then we saw people going into Gymboree, though my cousin (congenitally late, yes, at birth as well) wasn't there yet. We decided to go to the party.

A word of advice. If you have a chance to go to a toddler party even though you aren't said toddler's parent or grandparent, if you are so blessed to have this opportunity, don't hesitate for a second. Run screaming in the other direction, to the next county or maybe the next state, heck, to the next country if you must. It's an Experience.

Of course, it doesn't matter if you scream or not, nobody could possibly hear it. Get ten toddlers, their older siblings and parents, all into a room with all this wonderful stuff to climb on and bounce on and play with, and you ruin your hearing for a week.

My cousin was a little late, but many of the children were even later. Jimmy's dad came, and was thrilled to see Rich, another male who was missing football.

I was going to stay outside the railing, but soon realized I wouldn't have decent pictures if I did that. Jimmy hadn't had a nap so he was slow to warm up, but he seemed to enjoy climbing around and hiding in tiny places. The organizer let the children roam around for about a half hour, then she rang a bell and attempted to herd cats organize the kids (and worse, the parents.) Attempt one was to set up a birthday parade with shakers. J. liked the shakers, though his main interest was walking around somewhere else. Then the poor girl who was trying to herd these cats tried to get them to bounce on an inflated tube. I spoke to her, basically saying that to me this would be a Hell job. She says it isn't so bad... they change the program every two weeks so the leaders don't get too bored. Then it was time to try another game, and we all sat around the parachute. The kids had no idea (and, really, the parents weren't much better.) I grabbed one corner so that the parachute would work better.

Jimmy has one cute little trick which would take my sanity just before it took my hearing. He has a high-pitched squeal that he uses when he wants attention. Oh. My. Ghod. The other children's squeals were nowhere near as loud, as high, or as persistent.

A lot of them cried now and again. Parents wandered around, and in fact they were the ones who had trouble staying on the parachute to eat. Rich was helping to pass out cake and juice, since the parents were sidetracked with trying to boss their kids. Jimmy tried really hard to grab the lit candles, and none of the small children had any idea of the song.

Without too much mess, it was then time for the presents. Jimmy got a lot of cute things, and some that were totally too age-inappropriate and/or unsafe. The kids got their goodie bags, and soon my two hours of Hell on earth were over. As the last few people were leaving, I spied a couple of little boys (say, 3 years and 18 months?) looking longingly in the window at the balloons. I'd taken the goodie packs that were supposed to be for Alex and Genevieve. The little boys were called over somewhere else by their mother. Well, how could I resist? I went to her and explained that I'd gotten these bags for my grandchildren, who didn't need them, and her sons could have them. Well, the 3-yr-old was particularly enthralled with his balloon. It made me smile.

We stopped at Fuddrucker's to eat, and enjoyed it. Buffalo meat is really good. Afterwards, we saw the little family again, and the older boy was still smiling and happy over his balloon. This was the highlight of the day.

I haven't seen my cousin for months, so it was nice to get together again, finally. But was that really only two hours??