Then She Was Three

Three was the year that I had to face the music and invite other rambunctious and unpredictable children.  
Well, I was terrified.  Give me the head of a foreign country, a famous actor, an angry cabdriver and I'll handle it with dignity, but the thought of creating a party for crazy three year old's filled my heart with dread.  I could barely manage a two child play date, how would I wrangle seven?  Pinky was in nursery school (which she called nursk) and had a posse of six little buddies.  They were energetic and intelligent; the inner circle (Pinky, Sasha, Eric) would erupt into helpless laughter when they saw the moms and shout wee wee glove.  It made us laugh, too, but a mother is required to put on a stern face when dealing with inappropriate language. Pinky once called her father Toilet Man when he tickled her.  Another favorite was nincompoopy, and the weakest, wee wee scarf.  It is not surprising that my daughter now works in advertising.

About to Run

Fortunately, I am a crafty woman.  I realized that I had to make the venue alluring to the mothers so they would come and stay with the children.  
Here is my genius idea:  table for 14 at the Savoy Hotel at tea time.  Tons of finger sandwiches, cookies, cake.  And milky tea for the little guys.  Bingo!  We all rendezvoused at the hotel tearoom.  Youth looking adorable and angelic, mothers elegant and a little sexy.  We proceeded to have an uneventful and yummy tea time, accompanied by very good behavior which was a huge relief.   When it came time for the birthday cake, the sedate harpist broke away from her classical repertoire and arpeggio'd "Happy Birthday to You" It was charming, except, that as if there had been a hunting horn playing tantivy tantivy, the entire group of three year old's got up at the same exact instant and ran in circles around the very hushed restaurant.  The mothers were temporarily frozen in shock so the little nincompoopys had a big lead in the foot race and WE were ALL mortified.  I am exceptionally happy that the embarrassment was a shared one.  Now it's only a cautionary tale, instead of a lawsuit, a lifetime banning by the hotel and a shameful memory of the failures of a Yank in Old Blighty.

WILD

Good Again

Pinky's favorite finger sandwich (later served successfully to the New Canaan Sewing Group A) is an unexpected mixture of cream cheese, horse radish, sliced green olives with pimentos, and ham chopped into a large confetti size.  Served on white bread with no crust, you will gobble them up.