The Birthday That Was

On my to-do list over the holidays was catching up on this whole blog thing, updating links, etc.
Fail!
Fail!
Fail!

December zoomed by and suddenly it's January. Practically the middle of January, and here I am finally.
Although it has long passed, I do think Anna's birthday is worthy of it's own post, so I'll focus on that right now. We'll see if Christmas 2011 gets similar treatment.

First I'll describe what we did for her birthday party, and then just an update on my lovely girl herself.

I should mention that Anna's party was a few days before her actual birthday. Thus, I shouldn't have been surprised when she asked for another party on the actual Day. Next year, I'll try to be a little clearer about what the dear daughter ought to expect.
I think we had about eight guests in total, and I did a lot less decorating than last year. I went with more a generic theme in terms of games and decor, although encouraged the guests to dress up. So I guess it was a Costume-y theme.
For activities I set up a bunch of stations. The most popular (Jon's idea, of course) was the Balloon Tent. We set up our two-man tent in the living room, stuffed it full of balloons, and then I wrote some numbers on a few of the balloons. Along with just bouncing around inside, the kids could also trade a numbered balloon for a piece of paper clothing to play "Pin the Item on the Gingerbread Girl." (I cut a big gingerbread girl out of cardboard - fast and efficient and cheap.)
Another stations had paper dolls, so I guess the costume theme came out in a few ways. There was also a touch-and-smell station. I had 10 paper bags, five with things to smell (e.g., banana, lemon, soap) and five with things to touch (e.g., cheerios, Play-do). They guessed which bag had which item. Finally, there was a hunt for chocolate coins, which had to be collected in order to move to the last station: a pinata.

Once the pinata cracked, the kids gathered up the goodies and it went into a communal bowl to be divided up later. I ain't no fool. I did learn one important lesson: stick with the plastic bat. One child used his light saber to whack the pony, and that was all it took. At least he was the last to take a turn.

I elected to have Anna open her gifts when her friends were present. My feeling is that children enjoy giving their gifts (I know Anna does) and it's a good opportunity for the recipient to practice graciousness. But it didn't go as well this year. I think Anna and her cohort are at the age of greater sensibility than sense. We'll hold off on the gift openings until this changes.

Somewhere in there we made our own ice cream sundaes, there was general merriment, and a good time was had by all. Afterwards, I succumbed to a virus that had been haunting me that day, collapsing on the couch unable to move for about three hours. But Anna's party didn't stop, since Jon took her and Isaac to her favorite McDonald's for dinner, to give me a chance to recuperate. A banner day for my best girl.

So now she's five, and if you were to ask Anna what that means she'd say "I get to chew gum!" Everything else changes with degrees and is harder to pin down. Luckily, thanks to somewhat obnoxious kindergarten application forms I've been tackling, I've been thinking a lot about who she is and how she's changing. Here are few highlights.
Intellectually, the most noticeable thing about my girl is her vocabulary. I sometimes forget how remarkable this is about her, but she really does have a great command of the language. She'll throw around phrases like, "That wasn't wise," or "The cold chills my bones," or she'll start talking about sarcophagi and hieroglyphs, which I can barely spell. Alas, this hasn't translated into an interest in reading. At least, in learning to read from me. No rush. Once she picks it up, I think there will be no stopping her quest for knowledge.

Dressing up and imaginative play are still Anna's main thing. She has strong ideas about her clothing, and it takes every ounce of my effort to get her to wear pants and a jacket on a cold day (leggings and coats "don't look pretty" apparently). She's still a socialite, and success at any playground depends on whether she can find a friend, male or female. She's uber-patient with Isaac (as in, she doesn't pummel him one-for-one), and can put on her mothering hat when she feels like it. She cooks and bakes to her own tune, and is gaining a decent understanding of flour-sugar-butter ratios, etc.


I think Anna has a good deal of self confidence. Maybe too much, actually. She likes to try new things (as long as she's the one that suggests them) while still enjoying the comfort of the familiar (how many times has she heard "James and the Giant Peach? "Infinity," she would answer). She loves to dance, make up silly songs and jokes, and stay up way too late. Lately she's been using my old Fashion Plates and spool knitting, which has been fun for me, and learning to ski, which will eventually be fun for Jon.

So, five is a good age. For everyone.