Birthday madness
Sep. 18th, 2006 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naomikritzerKiera turned three today. Molly turns six on Wednesday. We had actually wanted about a three-year spacing, but we were not expecting to nail it almost to the day.
Looking at Kiera right now, it's hard to believe that when Molly was this age, she seemed big and grown-up to me, because I was comparing her to a newborn. I look at Kiera and think, but she's still a baby. She even still has those silky baby curls. How could I have thought Molly was a big kid when she was three?
Kiera was not a good baby. She was colicky, and screamed for hours, even when held, bounced, rocked, patted, and walked. She was an unusually responsive young infant, though; her first "toy" was one of Elise Mathesen's necklaces, which caught her eye as I was putting it on to wear to a reading when she was a little over a month old. I held the necklace up for her and dangled it so that it moved and sparkled when she kicked it or batted it. She's still got a distinct magpie streak. (So does Molly.)
For her birthday dinner, she wanted tuna, so I took her to Coastal Seafood today after preschool to buy some for her. When we were in Coastal a few weeks ago, the guy behind the counter offered me a sample of a sashimi-grade fish, and I shared it with the girls. Kiera wanted a sample this time of the cod. I told her I was pretty sure it wasn't sashimi grade, but she insisted that I check. (I was right.) We wound up coming home with some ahi tuna steaks. She'd requested brussels sprouts for her side veggie (yes, really. She loves brussels sprouts) and mashed potatoes (both girls love mashed potatoes).
She opened presents after dinner, and was absolutely delighted with everything though kind of baffled by some of it. She didn't make any effort to take anything out of its box after unwrapping it, and she would have skipped the gift bags completely if she hadn't been prompted. I had bought her a blue teddy because at one point in the last month she desperately wanted a blue teddy for her birthday; she promptly offered it to her sister. She also happily shared her new harmonica with Molly, which bodes well for her willingness to share the fold-up dollhouse that Molly picked out for her.
Their birthday party is this Sunday.
This, incidentally, is why I never seem to make it to the Ren Faire, even though I think the girls would love it. The Ren Faire happens in September. And September already has two birthdays plus a birthday party plus the start of school. We talked about going last Sunday, but decided against it because I needed to make Kiera cupcakes (to take to preschool) (we go to the last preschool in America that allows home-baked goodies, I think) and her birthday cake, and Kiera and Molly wanted to help so I couldn't just do it after they were in bed.
I'm thinking about trying to sell them on a Halloween party next year, as a replacement for the birthday party. That way, they could invite their new friends. Their birthdays fall so early in the year we don't even have Molly's school directory yet.
Looking at Kiera right now, it's hard to believe that when Molly was this age, she seemed big and grown-up to me, because I was comparing her to a newborn. I look at Kiera and think, but she's still a baby. She even still has those silky baby curls. How could I have thought Molly was a big kid when she was three?
Kiera was not a good baby. She was colicky, and screamed for hours, even when held, bounced, rocked, patted, and walked. She was an unusually responsive young infant, though; her first "toy" was one of Elise Mathesen's necklaces, which caught her eye as I was putting it on to wear to a reading when she was a little over a month old. I held the necklace up for her and dangled it so that it moved and sparkled when she kicked it or batted it. She's still got a distinct magpie streak. (So does Molly.)
For her birthday dinner, she wanted tuna, so I took her to Coastal Seafood today after preschool to buy some for her. When we were in Coastal a few weeks ago, the guy behind the counter offered me a sample of a sashimi-grade fish, and I shared it with the girls. Kiera wanted a sample this time of the cod. I told her I was pretty sure it wasn't sashimi grade, but she insisted that I check. (I was right.) We wound up coming home with some ahi tuna steaks. She'd requested brussels sprouts for her side veggie (yes, really. She loves brussels sprouts) and mashed potatoes (both girls love mashed potatoes).
She opened presents after dinner, and was absolutely delighted with everything though kind of baffled by some of it. She didn't make any effort to take anything out of its box after unwrapping it, and she would have skipped the gift bags completely if she hadn't been prompted. I had bought her a blue teddy because at one point in the last month she desperately wanted a blue teddy for her birthday; she promptly offered it to her sister. She also happily shared her new harmonica with Molly, which bodes well for her willingness to share the fold-up dollhouse that Molly picked out for her.
Their birthday party is this Sunday.
This, incidentally, is why I never seem to make it to the Ren Faire, even though I think the girls would love it. The Ren Faire happens in September. And September already has two birthdays plus a birthday party plus the start of school. We talked about going last Sunday, but decided against it because I needed to make Kiera cupcakes (to take to preschool) (we go to the last preschool in America that allows home-baked goodies, I think) and her birthday cake, and Kiera and Molly wanted to help so I couldn't just do it after they were in bed.
I'm thinking about trying to sell them on a Halloween party next year, as a replacement for the birthday party. That way, they could invite their new friends. Their birthdays fall so early in the year we don't even have Molly's school directory yet.
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-19 02:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-19 05:03 am (UTC)(we go to the last preschool in America that allows home-baked goodies, I think)
Our preschool allows home-baked goods, but once Meg is in elementary school they not only don't allow you to home-bake anything, but they've also cut off sugary treats. And wouldn't you know... with all the political subjects about which people could write in to the paper, they are writing in about how terrible it is to deprive the children of store-bought cupcakes on their birthdays. ::eyeroll::
no subject
Date: 2006-09-19 12:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-19 07:41 pm (UTC)I can relate to the birthday madness. My brother and I are three years and 363 days apart. My mom used to have these insane joint birthday parties (all indoors, because this was Calgary in March) with about 20 kids of varying ages :shudder:
Our preschool/daycare still allows homemade treats, as long as they are free of all nuts and nut products. How do they check? Well, they just trust the parents, I guess. (They do check packaged items for nut ingredients -- I've seen them do it at parties.) As far as I'm aware, though, we don't actually have any kids with known nut allergies -- it's just a precaution. I think Canada must be less advanced than the US in this area, because on the web site of the elementary school we may possibly be sending DD to next year, I note that they provide a supervised peanut-free lunch table for kids with allergies -- which means, presumably, that you can actually still send your child to school with a peanut-butter sandwich.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-20 08:00 pm (UTC)The middle school where my wife teaches (8th grade math) has instituted a ban on things like cakes and cookies and pies -- which has ended her celebration of Pi day. That day, of course, is March 14th (3.14) when in previous years her classes celebrated Pi day by bringing pies (and circular-shaped cakes and cookies) for a tasty discussion of the ratio of the radius and the circumference. This year, alas, it will be a much more theoretical discussion.
Happy Birthday
Date: 2006-09-21 07:50 pm (UTC)Are you having a themed party this year? And do you expect to be able to do a shared party for long, or is Molly likely to want her own party soon? I don't think we'll be worrying about that for a while. Amber didn't even get a party this year, since I was preparing to go to the hospital to give birth to Caleb. She didn't miss it (though I think I did).
-Zanne