B is for Birthday

I can't believe my baby is SEVEN years old! We knew a big party was out of the question this year because we were just returning from vacation, but we wanted to make Caleb's birthday special somehow. I tried to think of what he's into these days and I kept coming up with Baseball and Books. He also had said that what he really wanted to do for his birthday was to go to Barnes and Noble. This led me to think of doing a little mystery book for him--sort of a scavenger-hunt type activity. So I came up with a book called "B is for Birthday." After spending a pointless hour at Office Depot trying to get the guy to understand how to copy and bind the book, I threw my hands in the air and went home to punch holes and tie a ribbon to hold it together. We rushed over to pick up Caleb from school and his leftover baseball cupcakes he took to his class. I had left his Birthday Book on his seat, and Lauren and I anxiously awaited his reaction. Here's how it went:

Caleb: "Did Lauren make this?"
Mom: (ouch!) "No."
Caleb: "Did Lauren's teacher make this?"
Mom: "No. I made it. Go ahead and read what it says."
Caleb: "I don't really want to read it. It just makes me feel so young."


I had not anticipated this. I told him to read it because the car didn't know where to go for his birthday celebration. He really insisted that he did not want to read it, I guess because he thought it was insulting to his intelligence. So, I pulled the car over, and said, "Well, maybe Lauren can figure out the clues and tell us where to go." I proceeded to read the poem on the inside cover of the book:

"B, B, B…what begins with B?
BYU, Baseball, and Bowling--
A few of your favorite things!

B, B, B… what begins with B?
Bradley and Birthday Boy, and
This Book that starts with B…

B, B, B…what could this Birthday book BE?
A “Merlin Mission”, or an “A to Z Mystery”?
I guess you’ll just have to see!"

At that point his eyes started to light up and I could tell I had peaked his interest. So I read the first clues:

• It has a ladder.
• You and Andrew might share one of these in a few years.
• You like to read up here when you visit your cousins.

It took him a minute to figure it out, and then he shouted "BUNK BEDS!" and we were off to visit the Nelsons and their bunk beds. The other "B's" around the bay we got to visit were: BART, Bookstore, Bank, Boats (Ferry Building--we ate dinner there), and finally came home to Birthday cake. He really got into it and loved writing the answer in the blank and taking a picture at each stop.