Ryan's First Fourth of July Celebration

We were excited about making Ryan's first Forth of July special. The day before, I took him shopping at Walmart where we bought his first wading pool along with a big box of fireworks. I thought for the 4th, Ryan would enjoy time in the pool and a few fireworks. As it worked out I didn't take him out in the pool, but that was okay because I let him play in the pool the night before. By the time I got him ready for the day, he had a nap. When he woke up, it was super hot. I thought I'd put him in the pool after dinner, but then he went back down for a nap. That was the strangest part of the story. Historically, Ryan pushes himself to the brink of exhaustion before he'll settle for a nap. If Ryan had a motto it would be, "Sleep is for the weak". The forth of July was no different. He had a short one hour nap in the morning, then pushed himself through the rest of the day. When Mom and Dad came over for dinner, I could tell Ryan was pretty tired. I gave him a bottle after dinner and he finally crashed. He doesn't usually sleep at 7:00, but under the circumstances I thought the nap was perfect. He'd be all rested and ready to go by the time we started the fireworks. While he slept, I played Scrabble with Mom while Steve and Dad visited in the front room. After Dad went downstairs for a little snooze, Steve joined us for a few rounds of Boggle. One hour went by, then an hour and a half. Still no sound from Ryan. We decided it was probably time for him to wake up, so we started shaking the Boggle box of cubes rather loudly. Still no sound from Ryan. It was starting to get dark, so Steve and I went in to check on Ryan. I rubbed his back and his head. He was out like a light. Steve and I started a conversation right there at his crib, but he didn't stir. I figured if he was that tired, we should let him rest. Maybe he was experiencing a growth spurt. I hoped he would wake up when we started the fireworks. We took our chairs out to the sidewalk. I had Ryan's monitor receiver with me so I would hear him when he woke, which I was sure he would do, after the first couple of fireworks. I lit the fireworks, which popped and screamed like fireworks do. We listened at the monitor, and all I could hear was the steady tick, tick, tick from the clock in Ryan's room. We lit firework after firework and regularly ooohed and aaahed. Steve took lots of pictures with his fancy camera. All four of the neighbor boys came out in their PJs to watch the show. After what must have been at least a half an hour, we had our finale. The monitor was still silent except for the tick, tick, tic, from Ryan's clock. I saved a few fireworks to show Ryan the next day. After our show, we watched either the Draper City or Riverton City fireworks from the front porch. We had a great view. Between our small street fireworks and the show we could see from the porch, we had the best of both worlds. After the last firework popped in the sky, we cleaned up our things, said our goodbyes and headed off to bed. I was sorry that Ryan missed the show, but was glad he was getting some much needed sleep. I brushed my teeth, got my PJs on, had my prayer and laid my weary head on my pillow. Suddenly, Ryan woke up with a cry. Steve said I should entitle this "It was not Bombs Bursting in Air, but Pillow Hitting Hair that Awoke Ryan."