Day 8: Exactly Halfway

June 28, 2026

By the time we got back from Tim Hortons everyone spilled out of the van and disappeared into the yard. A minute later Lola wandered back over.

"Can I have more of my frozen drink?"

I'd completely forgotten about it.

They'd gotten a frozen Blackberry Yuzu drink at Timmies to share. I kept it up front on the drive home since there wasn't exactly a graceful way to pass a frozen drink back and forth between two kids while driving. I'd promised they'd each get half once we got home.

"Sure," I told her. "Just stop at the halfway point. The rest is for Wesley."

I would've put money on finding an empty cup a few minutes later. Not because Lola's that kind of kid... but because she's a kid, and frozen drinks aren't exactly known for encouraging moderation.

Instead she walked back over, handed me the cup and had stopped almost exactly where I'd asked.

I passed it to Wesley who, in true Wesley fashion, made short work of the rest without a second thought. Shortly after he asked to drive the blue Jeep again, so that's exactly what we did.

Watching him zip around reminded me of the little battery-powered ATV we inherited from our local Buy Nothing group back home. It came to us inoperable. I keep telling myself I'll get around to replacing the batteries... maybe fixing whatever else is wrong with it.

He still climbs on it almost every day pretending to drive somewhere. Apparently imagination is an acceptable substitute for horsepower when you're two.

Seeing how much joy he got out of my buddy's working Jeep was probably the kick in the pants I needed. I really should fix that thing.

Later that morning the giant inflatable bouncy castle with a waterslide he'd rented had arrived. The party wasn't supposed to start until one, but the company showed up a little after ten to set everything up.

The kids wasted absolutely no time sucking the sweet marrow out of life by cashing in those three unexpected hours.

They used them like they owed them money.

The inflatable had everything. A bouncing area, basketball nets, a climbing wall and a waterslide that looked like it had been engineered by people who thought gravity was more of a suggestion than a law.

We held off turning the water on until the rest of the kids arrived. That gave my buddy and me some time to fix the hose, which was spraying more water onto the lawn than the slide. We eventually got it sorted out through sheer ingenuity... and a little accidental ass groping on my part. The kids were none the wiser.

Not long after, Lola and the boys came up with a game where Wesley was the dinosaur... or the crocodile... or the monster depending on the minute. He chased them around the castle growling his little heart out and absolutely loved every second of it.

It wasn't until Sophie and I stood back for a while that I started wondering if we were watching the same game he was.

From Wesley's perspective he seemed thrilled just to be playing with the older kids.

From where we stood, I couldn't help but notice he was always the one chasing... always the one on the outside... always the monster.

Maybe we were reading too much into a perfectly innocent game. I honestly don't know.

It can't be easy figuring out how to include a two-year-old when you're six. They weren't trying to be mean. If anything, they probably thought they were doing exactly that by letting him play.

Eventually someone introduced balls into the game and suddenly three kids were pelting the monster at once. That was about the point where Sophie and I decided it was time to redirect things.

I've often wondered where bullying actually begins. Is it something children intentionally do... or is it just empathy that hasn't fully developed yet?

From the older kids' perspective they were including Wesley.

From Wesley's perspective he was a really cool dinosaur.

From ours.… it looked a little different… maybe we were wrong.. maybe we weren't.

Either way, Sophie and I figured it was worth nudging things toward kindness.

At one point Wesley quietly launched another one of his escape attempts. PEI doesn't seem particularly interested in backyard fences, and the giant inflatable made for excellent cover.

Thankfully Lola immediately sold her brother out.

By the time I caught up with him he was standing on the neighbour's front porch looking perfectly content with himself, as though he'd simply decided to go introduce himself.

I explained, once again, that he needed to keep us in sight.

Something tells me this won't be our last conversation on the subject.

Once the water was finally running, the whole inflatable became significantly more... kinetic.

Wesley loved every second of it, but physics has a funny way of reminding you when you're two years old surrounded by a pack of excited six-year-olds. He kept taking little bumps and tumbles, coming over every now and then for a quick kiss on whichever part of him had most recently collided with the laws of motion... then he'd head straight back into the fray, completely undeterred by the size difference.

I spent most of that time hanging out in the shade with Finn attached to me. Between the two of us redheads, one of us was smart enough to stay out of the sun.

Lola reached her limit much earlier. She quietly wandered over to a little colouring table near the adults and invested herself completely in that instead. One thing I've always admired about her is that she never seems to feel obligated to keep enjoying something just because everyone else is.

Eventually Wesley started shivering. Even then he tried squeezing a little more fun out of the afternoon before finally admitting defeat and climbing into our arms to warm up.

The cupcakes came out, everyone sang Happy Birthday, and Wesley carefully removed every last bit of icing before finally acknowledging there was a cupcake underneath...

He then proceeded to completely ignore the cupcake.

After everyone headed home, the birthday boy opened his presents while Lola and Wesley did their absolute best to respect the fact that none of the new toys belonged to them.

We wrapped up the day with donair before bedtime negotiations inevitably began.

The guerrilla infant-try deployed every countermeasure available to them, but eventually the adults prevailed. Lola was so tired she kept melting down in protest. Wesley put up a respectable fight too, but exhaustion remained undefeated.