The birthday that wasn't

Poor Itai. Today is his 7th birthday, and where is he? Upstairs sleeping in my bed, his body wracked by fever. He's really sick, and SO disappointed. We had to cancel the celebrations in his afternoon program today, and needless to say he will not be showing all his friends his new Maccabi Haifa soccer jersey* today. We tried to cheer him up a bit by offering to celebrate his birthday this morning instead of waiting until tonight, but the poor thing just couldn't get out of bed.


So instead of the birthday cake and festivities planned for him at his afternoon program he'll get a few cupcakes out of the freezer arranged like a seven (I did at least put his name on them) . I just hope that he's healthy again by Friday - he's supposed to celebrate with his class then, and his actual birthday party (bowling - the latest fad among the 7 year old set) is scheduled for Friday afternoon (and lest anyone think I've lost my birthday cake decorating drive, yes, I'm planning on making an actual cake for that one, I just didn't figure he needed two different ones in one day).

Keep your fingers crossed that this passes quickly - and that it doesn't strike anyone else in the family! Jay and I are supposed to go away for two nights mid-next week and we don't have coverage if the kids are sick!

* The new jersey has quite a story behind it. Last week Itai and I were leaving our building when he saw a man in a Maccabi Haifa jacket waiting for the elevator. He immediately started talking to him about the team. Next thing I know the guy was asking Itai who his favorite player was and what is his shirt size. Turns out, he's the official printer for the national soccer league. He promised Itai a team shirt. Since I had no idea who he was or how likely he was to follow through I warned Itai not to get his hopes up. Imagine my surprise when there was a knock on the door last night and there stood this same neighbor and his 3-year old daughter, Maccabi Haifa bag in hand! He was grinning from ear to ear as he presented Itai with an official #12 soccer jersey - signed by nearly the whole team! Itai was so excited I'm surprised he didn't sleep with the shirt last night. One of the first things he said when he realized he couldn't go to school today was that now no one would see his new shirt. (See my previous post for a picture of my oh so proud soccer fan modeling his new threads.)