Happy birthday to....

...Me! Yes, I turned another year older yesterday. I won't directly reveal how old I am, but let's just say that someone got invited to her 20th high school reunion this year. Yes, that someone is getting old.

Birthdays used to be a big deal to me when I was younger--I would take the day off and plan a night out. But as I age, I'm finding that it really doesn't take a whole lot to make my birthday.

Take yesterday for example. It was a work day for both K and me, so we decided to keep it relatively low-key. In the morning, I went to Starbucks to redeem my free birthday coffee, and was completely tickled when I saw the birthday greeting scribbled on my cup:

In the afternoon, I opened up my Facebook and was delighted to see a bunch of birthday wishes from folks from many different facets of my life: best friend, acquaintances, high school, college, grad school, work; you get the idea. It makes me realize at how little effort it takes to brighten up someone's day--just a simple, What's-up-saw-on-FB-it's-your-birthday-so-have-a-good-one message is all it takes. And it takes probably all but 3 seconds. So note to self, I will definitely be giving regular b-day shout-outs to folks going forward.

At night, we went to grab dinner at a kid-friendly restaurant, followed by a visit to the ice cream shop, where BBoy proceeded to feed ice cream to everyone at the table.

Then after the kids drifted off to bed, K and I settled in front of the TV to catch up on another episode of Mad Men.


It was a very good birthday, indeed.

Six-Years Old!

My baby girl turns six today. Six! At six years old, am I still allowed to call her my baby??

Happy birthday to a little girl...

...Whose imagination and ingenuity always brings a smile to my face. Here is her solution to battling the wind on a particularly blustery day: a mask fashioned out of an old colander and a pair of work goggles. A bit Friday the 13th-ish, but my little Jason is adorable all the same.
 

  
...Who has a strong (read: stubborn) sense of style. Did you notice that in the above two photos she is wearing the same sort of outfit? I assure you that we buy her plenty of clothes, most of which she will have none of. Here's a rundown of her daily "uniform":

• T-shirt. It's always a t-shirt. If it's cold, she will wear a long sleeve shirt with a t-shirt on top. If she wants to shake things up a bit, she will wear a zip up fleece over her t-shirt. But, it's always a t-shirt.
• Jeans. This girl is forever in blue jeans. ("Because they look cool")
• No buttons, ever. Unless it's on a pair of jeans. She has a serious fear of buttons. Kinda odd.

   ....Who is turning out to be quite the little artist.

  

...Who doesn't quite get the art of a good punchline yet.

Her most recent joke went something like this:
 EB: "What did the cat say to the mouse?"
 Me: "Not sure. What?"
 EB: "I'm going to chase you!  And then, the mouse says, 'No, please don't chase me!' And he runs away from him, across the street!" Uproarious laughter ensues.


 Happy Birthday, EB! I love you!

Five!

EB turned five years old today! She woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and said to me in a slightly disappointed voice: “I don’t look older, Mommy. Maybe I’m dreaming that I’m five.”

This girl just cannot wait to grow up. As for me, I just want to preserve her childhood forever. I get choked up just thinking about EB as a five-year old; something happens when you cross the boundary from four to five. For one, five years old is when you attend Kindergarten, or what I perceive as real school. As in I would need to worry about dropping her off on time, whereas now, I have no qualms about dropping her off 15-20 minutes late. Mathematically speaking, five is closer to ten than it is to one. Meaning, she’s just that much closer to entering the bratty tween years.

But for now, I won’t think too much about how quickly my baby has grown up. Rather, I want to take this moment to capture what she is like now, what makes her tick and what makes her the unique little girl that she is today.

• EB loves all things superhero. Unlike most other girls her age, she considers princesses “boring.” She wants to be where the action is and save the world , and her favorite superheros are Spiderman and Spidergirl.

• She loves treats—nothing lights up her face more than the prospect of eating candies, cupcakes and ice cream.

• Despite the fact that she loves her sweets, she has iron willpower. She will not eat any treats without consulting with me first, and if I allow her only three jellybeans, she sticks to those three.

• Along the same lines, she is obsessed about the idea of eating healthy food. She never tires of asking me which foods are healthy, which ones are not. In fact, She is so interested in this topic that she has proudly declared to me that she is an “expert of being healthy.”

• EB is insanely competitive, which drives me bonkers at times. She's even tried to be competitive with me, claiming that she is a better "drawer" than I am.  I was, however, very quick to point out that she is not a better artist. In fact, since I don't believe she should have an inflated self-esteem, I told her that there's probably not a lot of things that she can do better than I can at this point. The Tiger Mom's got nothing on me. 

• She is a good egg. Above everything else, she wants to please me and K. We feel lucky, although sometimes we wonder if and when pleasing her parents will drop off her priority list.

• She's had her first crush. Of course, she does not yet understand the meaning of a crush. But by the way she talks about this guy in her class, I recognize the signs of an early crush from a mile away.

• EB loves her little brother, and has surprisingly shown almost no jealousy.

• She also has an imaginary brother – her big bear Ian, whom she takes great pleasure in bossing around.

• EB knows how to work me and K. Separately, she will coyly tell each of us that she has a secret to tell us, dramatically motion for us to come close and then whisper in our ears: “I love you more than anybody.”

Happy Birthday, Baby!

EB turned four today! I can't believe it's already been four years since her arrival. It feels like she was just a baby yesterday...then blink...she’s a pre-schooler, bursting with energy, asking “whys” all of the time, filling K and I with awe and wonder.

Enjoying her birthday treat

We kept the day relatively low-key since she had an early birthday party a couple of months back. But, we wanted to bring cupcakes to her school so that she could celebrate with her classmates. As luck would have it, a friend had a fresh batch of blue, yellow and green frosting leftover from a cake she had made the very same day, so I was able to give EB’s cupcakes some flare without much effort. Check them out.

OK, the green one on the left is a bit messed up.

I was proud; even a bit smug. Until I was reminded that not only did I use a boxed cake mix, but also, someone else made the colored frosting. Hmmph. No matter, EB loved the cupcakes, and couldn’t wait to show them off at school.

Happy birthday, Little Girl. May you always be the happy, curious, amazing person that you are.