There will be cake (and possibly blood)

We took Kaylee to the neighbor's birthday party today. We were told it was just a small affair at a nearby park. It was the three of us, our neighbors, the 10-year-old birthday girl and her brother and sister.

And about 40 other family members. None of whom we had ever met.

But that didn't stop Kaylee. She charmed the adults. She found herself playing with all the cousins (despite being one of the youngest by far). Despite a full morning playing with her best friend and no nap – she played her heart out and was a complete angel. I was really quite proud of her.

(And you should see her dribble a soccer ball. The kid has skills I didn't have when I was five.)

I'm not sure if she noticed it first, or if we showed it to her, but she became very interested in the piñata. It was huge, covered in mylar and streamers and I can only imagine what it looked like to a two-year-old hanging high in that tree with the sunlight catching it just so.

She joined the small group of children who gathered around it as one of the uncles tested the rope. Up and down it bounced in the sky and with each rise Kaylee's eyes got a little bit larger. She got even more excited when I told her it was filled with candy. (She likes candy.)

"Daddy, can I touch it?"

I said sure and gave her a little push on her butt to send her in the right direction.

She didn't quite make it up to the piñata when one of the aunts cornered her and shooed her into a line of children ranked small to big. Being one of the youngest, Kaylee was second in line and had a great view as the birthday girl was handed the stick.

Dale, dale, dale,

no pierdas el tino;

Porque si lo pierdes

pierdes el camino.

Ya le diste una,

ya le diste dos;

Ya le diste tres,

y tu tiempo se acabó

Kaylee's smile widened as everyone started singing and the piñata started bouncing up and down. So you can imagine the look of absolute terror that took over when this older girl (whom Kaylee idolizes) started beating the living hell out of this poor papier maché star.

The poor kid spend the next five minutes on our laps, crying her eyes out while all the other children took their turns whacking away as bits and pieces of their target rained to the ground.

All I could think was, thank God the birthday girl is too old for a Dora the Explorer piñata.

Right before it was about to break, Kaylee figured it all out and decided that it looked like fun and took a few whacks at it. And once she had the candy in her hand she was definitely over it.

Just don't expect to see a repeat performance at her party next month.