“It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to”

Birthdays can be celebrations of another year gone by or dreaded reminders of increasing age. For 1-year-old Maggie, it was a little of both.

“She wasn’t too happy about wearing a hat and listening to us sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her,” says Helen, Maggie’s mom. “As soon as the camera came out she burst into tears. I figured she would calm down when she saw her cake, but she got madder because her dad wouldn’t let her touch the lit candle.”

Helen says Maggie was playing happily before her birthday party began. She ran around the room hitting balloons with her brother Buzz and thoroughly enjoyed all the birthday girl attention.

“She had so much fun opening presents on her birthday that we figured she would think her party was even more fun. We were obviously wrong,” said Helen.

Next year, there will only be a family party for Maggie.

“We don’t really think 1-year-olds should have birthday parties, they don’t even know what is happening,” said Helen. “We have celebrated both of our other kids first birthdays with their grandparents, but they live too far away now so we just invited a few close friends that we consider family to celebrate with us. I think we will wait a few more years before we try that again.”

Despite her unhappiness with the hat and singing, she is still one of the cutest birthday girls around. Happy first birthday Maggie.