That went better than anyone had any right to expect

We took ARR to his first friend's birthday party over the weekend. It was actually surprisingly pleasant. He and the birthday boy played really nicely together--lots of taking turns and saying thank you. We got a good hour and a half in before they both wanted the same toy and had to be pried apart crying, and then they calmed down and went back to playing after a couple minutes. (For those of you without toddlers, this is a massive accomplishment.) The parents had gone to the trouble of making ARR brownies he could eat, so he was very excited to get his own "happy birthday cake" when everyone else got some. We had some upsetness over giving ARR his favors, but when the boys realized that the birthday boy got presents to unwrap while ARR got a bucket and a truck, they were reasonably satisfied. We escaped after two hours and called it a success.

(We'd rehearsed what was going to happen a couple times on the way down, which I think helped.)