You know me, I love when a kid gives me a theme to work with. F has been very clear for a while now that she expected her birthday to have a blue cake, goodie bags, and everyone to sing to her. But the actual theme she wasn’t super sure on.
Three!
You have been counting down to this day for MONTHS. Constantly asking when your day would come. When would you get your blue cake and have everyone sing Happy Birthday to F. And somehow it’s finally here. I’ve been calling you a two year old every day leading up to this, savoring these last bits when you’re still so little. Because in many ways you are so big.
Catching Up: Celebrating the Parents
Life got busy as it does, and one of the things that disappeared around here was blog updates. There was also a period where I debated if I wanted to continue it, but I’ve decided that the benefits of tracking memories makes it worth it. You will see some changes - making things a bit more generic, for example, to keep some privacy while still documenting life.
So what did we miss in the last 6 months or so?
A Karate Party
It’s funny how much can change in a year. Last year I said I wasn’t a fan of class parties, and this year they’re my favorite haha. Partly because they seem to be slipping away - I thought we’d have them through third or fourth grade. And maybe our class was an abnormally this year, but the parties were already splitting boys and girls, which obviously doesn’t work for us. We only had 2 invites to parties this year, and watching how sad it made E, and also seeing other parents stress about kids not showing up has moved my opinion towards one of, the more parties the better!
Seven
Happy 7th Birthday!
This has been such a big year of self discovery for you. You’ve learned to read well enough to learn to love it, and devour books - especially graphic novels. You also love math (and make everyone constantly quiz you) and learning animal facts too. You’ve also learned a lot about yourself and how you identify and what makes you happy. I’m always impressed in your confidence even when it’s not popular. And we are happy to be your always support and cheerleaders.
A Baa Baa Birthday Party
Somehow we managed to pull off a small celebration for G again, just days before Christmas. It’s such a hard thing - in the middle of getting ready for Christmas and wrapping presents and figuring all that out, we suddenly have to double decorate and make a cake and have him feel special.
For months he’d been asking for another train birthday cake, like he had for his birthday last year, but then suddenly with a month to go he asked if he could have a baa baa birthday again. I told him that surprisingly he’d actually never had a baa baa birthday before, at which point he demanded it.
Birthday Meow
From ladybugs to kitty cats.
Mostly I’m just picking themes that seem fun based on random things she likes, and since I didn’t feel like throwing a baby doll birthday party, cats it is! So we decorated the whole house with cats with party hats and E helped me by blowing up a lot of balloons. He was home one day with me and bored, so I threw some balloons at him and told him to figure out how to blow them up! It was actually pretty cool watching him figure out what he needed to do.
Our cats didn’t love it, though. Every night you’d find them staring with wide eyes at the stuff hanging from the ceiling. Which to be fair, did look like we’d cut a head off a cat and hung it from a string…
TWO
You are an amazing TWO year old. So clever, I find you figuring out problems with ease. Can’t reach something? Next thing I know you’ve grabbed a step stool and grabbed whatever you needed. You watch your siblings and learn from them all the time.
You have no fear (a little fear once in a while might be a good thing, you know? Maybe a few less black eyes?) and literally dive into everything head first. You’ll jump off anything, tackle anyone, and everyone who meets you uses the word “bruiser” to describe you. However you’re also super nurturing. You always “make drinks” for everyone and can also be found taking care of your babies. If your older siblings look sad, you’ll give up your own toys to try and cheer them up.
Birthday Party
I am not a fan of class parties. It’s so much easier to do a small friends and family party - less stress, cost, planning, less everything! But a certain kindergartener watched all the other children get big parties and was insistent that he wanted one too.
Our class hasn’t been very good at sharing contact information, so the only way to invite anyone is to invite the entire class by sending invites to school. It’s actually helpful that the teachers agree to distribute invites in the folders that go home every night, but it was a lot of control to give up for me. Even worse was when I set an RSVP deadline and had at least 6 kids RSVP after that time.
I had no idea what to expect - would we get 3 kids or 13? The party was out of town, so I wondered if that meant less people would come. Maybe I hoped it would mean less people would come? It was a funny line where I didn’t want no one to show up but I also didn’t want everyone.
SIX
It’s been a big year. E has almost finished Kindergarten and has grown so much over the past year. He has learned many new skills. We’ve seen him crush math worksheets, utilize new art skills which landed him a spot in the town wide art show, and enter the beginning stages of learning how to read. He comes home daily with new knowledge about things we’ve never discussed - it’s equally thrilling and scary to no longer be the only source of information in his life.
He regularly does 200-500 piece puzzles and non stop Lego kits that he takes apart and uses to build something else. He’s less into coloring, but loves making cards for people. He still loves crafts but dislikes painting. He loves running until his hair is wet and sweaty, but also loves to sit and cuddle with me - often waking up an hour before anyone else to find me in the house and get alone time with me.
Four
Somehow here we are, and you’re four. You are growing and changing at an alarming rate lately. Suddenly you are writing letters and drawing people and your face looks older, and I’m just wondering where my little G went. You are still super sweet and loving. You’ll appear and offer a toy to F when she’s crying, or will tell me you love me when you see me having a hard day. You love to cuddle and wake up slow in the mornings, and almost always have something soft to rub on your face.
A Train Party
We have an almost 4 year old in our house, which means it was time for a party! G is someone who doesn’t require much to make him happy, which is great, but it also means it’s hard to do something like plan a party. If I ask him what he likes or if he has any toys he’d like, he has a hard time answering. Anything and everything can make him happy, but he’s also happy without.