Happy Birthday

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SIX

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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.

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A Rainbow Sparkle Birthday

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I’ve already shared a birthday post for our recent five year old, but his party (parties?) need some documentation as well. This year he was insistent on a rainbow sparkle theme, surprising no one - so we went all in! I did better with the rainbows than I did with the sparkles, but I made sure to get a few of those in there too. His other requests included wanting to go to Jordan’s for his party, and having real candles on his cake that he would get to blow out. Who knew that I was depriving him by not giving a small child fire!

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Three Years

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The other morning I woke you up and told that you while you were two years old that morning, you’d soon be three! And you said “No! I’m your baby always!” and then you had me scoop you up and rock you in my arms. It was just what my soul needed as I mourn all of my children growing way too fast. But then again, you always seem to know what other people need lately. I’ve dubbed you a caregiver more than once lately. You often tell me that if I’m scared it’s okay, because you’re here for me. And we all call you our Italian grandmother, since you love feeding people. It brings you so much joy, and you won’t take no for an answer. No one can come into our house without getting some of your meal fed to them. You also will seek out my water from across the house and bring it to me to make sure I’m drinking enough water.

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A Pandemic Party

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Just because there isn’t going to be a big party, doesn’t mean that I can’t decorate like there would be! Picking out a theme, deciding what the cake would look like, those are things that are fun to me. I enjoy doing that for my children’s birthdays, so even though we’re in the middle of a pandemic, that didn’t stop me.

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THREE

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Three feels big. Heavy and important and monumental. Two still felt like a baby, still felt close to birth, with everything felt fresh and new. Three feels so big and so old. It’s hard to explain the feeling, but when I had babies I didn’t feel like a mother so much. I felt like a caregiver of tiny humans, someone who was given a gift of these squishly little creatures to take care of. Now I feel like I have a child. A child that I have to raise, mother, and teach.

Three is old enough to ask questions and remember things that I’ve told him. Three is big enough that I need to think about what I say before I saw it, unless I want it repeated forever and to everyone.

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The Original May Birthday

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Quarantine birthdays are not an unique experience anymore. We’ve had months of people celebrating in quarantine at this point, and we’ve missed first birthdays and 18th birthdays and so my 35th wasn’t a huge deal. We probably wouldn’t have done much different had there not been a quarantine. Sure, I would have loved to go to a movie theater or sat in a Starbucks while I caught up with my best friend, but the empty parking lot where we met while we sat in our trunks was actually kind of fun. It certainly made it memorable.

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Orange Happy Birthday

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We’re still obsessed with happy birthday over here. E can almost sing it by himself, but he still prefers it if we sing it, or we watch his two minute clip on Netflix. The drive home from daycare is prime happy birthday singing time. Lately, singing it is no longer enough. He’s requested that we merge his two favorite things, and sing “Orange Happy Birthday.”

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Bits and Pieces of a Toddler

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Every once in a while, E picks up a new phrase. Sometimes it’s obvious he got it from us, but sometimes it seems random. We assume it comes from daycare, but we never know for sure. Lately his phrase has been “walk away.” It’s equally hilarious and insulting. It usually comes when he’s doing something on his own and we’re trying to help. Like when he decides he wants to feed the baby by shoving food in his mouth, and we try to intervene, he’ll look at me and say “No, Mama. Walk away.” Somehow it’s cuter than if he just told us to go away, and it’s equally as funny when he tells the baby to do it too. We should probably try to encourage him to use different language… but we’re enjoying it for now.