As yesterday was my birthday, I thought it would be appropriate to finally finish this post I've been working on about Hollie's fourth birthday...almost a month ago! It was
quite a day, preceded by a surprising amount of preparation for her celebration at school. More on that later.
In the morning, we attended a MOPS meeting, which is one of her favorite things. She has made many good, lasting friendships at those meetings...we both have! We usually end up with just enough time for a quick lunch between MOPS and school, and I usually have a say in that decision, but that day I let her choose for herself. Taco Bell, of course! [This is why I usually steer the conversation] :)
Then, time for school. They do birthday celebrations during circle time right at the beginning of class to make it easier for parents to stay and participate.
As all the kids sat at the circle in the classroom, her teacher lit a candle in the middle to represent the sun. Hollie and I had chosen one photo of her from every year of her life, which she carried around the circle one at a time for her classmates to see, while I read from a "story" about her life at each age...it was a little form that her teacher had sent home with blanks for me to fill in, like "when she was one year old, she had learned to
fill-in-the-blank".
Her classmates went through three or four renditions of Happy Birthday in different languages, which, I must say, blew my mind! I think they were Arabic, Spanish, and one other that I can't remember. Her teacher told me they've been working on the Japanese version, too, since they study Japanese once a week, but they haven't quite got it yet.
Then, they went around the circle and each child said something that they like about Hollie. Most of the things they said sounded like fairly pre-set responses and were repeated by most of the kids: "She's a good worker" "She's kind" "She has a good heart"...but it was still very sweet. One little girl said, "She's my best friend" and one of the boys, Wyatt, whom Hollie talks about quite often, said "I like her because she plays with me a lot".
Next, Miss Cindy announced that it was time for everyone to give Hollie a gift, which shocked me a little at first, until I realized what she meant. The kids loved this part! The first volunteer said, "I want to give Hollie four claps!" and everyone clapped four times (give or take). Next she got four jumping jacks, four push-ups, four turn-arounds (they stay seated and turn around on their bottoms)...and four of many other fun things!
Finally, the last thing to do was the birthday snack. In the letter I had gotten from Miss Cindy about birthdays, it has said that we should avoid candy and other very sugary treats, and of course peanuts, but that I should let Hollie help decide what to bring. When I asked Hollie for ideas, her first response was, "Candy! That's what everyone brings." Oooookay! I told her that candy was not okay, and after some other ideas were tossed around, she thought of chocolate-covered strawberries, so that was it. We had just made them a week or two beforehand, and she loves helping me prepare them. She can wash and dry the strawberries, dip them in the melted chocolate, and carefully set them on the waxed paper, and when we made them for her class we added an extra touch...sprinkles! She loooves to put sprinkles on anything that I'll let her, but it this time it was actually my idea...I think she didn't realize it could be done! I'm such an enabler.
The snack came out great, and both Miss Cindy and the assistant teacher, Miss Mona, were very impressed. Miss Mona couldn't believe I hadn't bought them from a store, and asked for detailed instructions for how to make them. She was floored when I told her how much help Hollie had been. Enough bragging, because I have to tell you, some of the kids were less enthusiastic! From the generally confused/surprised reactions, it seemed that most of them had never had a chocolate-covered strawberry before! Most ended up really enjoying them, a few just ate the chocolate and ignored the strawberry, and at least one picked off all the chocolate and
only wanted the strawberry (and actually put the chocolate in the trash...I watched!). It seemed like they had a lot of fun eating them, and it was fun to watch, too.
All of this took about 45 minutes. Having only brought the photos and the strawberries, it was a LOT more than I expected! Blake, by the way, sat with me for about the first two minutes at the circle before she had to get her hands on something to do, and thank goodness for Miss Mona, who took her to a table and let her transfer marbles from cup to cup to her heart's content.
Then, it was time for Blake and me to visit my OB in Seattle. I always schedule my appointments for afternoons when Hollie is in school, and depending on the time she usually has to stay an extra hour or so in the after-school care which is more like daycare than school. It's in a separate area with basic toys rather than Montessori materials, and with very nice caregivers but not teachers. Hollie always loves going to "after care", so scheduling my appointment for that day was a gift to her in itself. In fact, when I arrived to pick her up that day, she had just put on a princess dress and wasn't ready to take it off again, so (partly because it was her birthday, I think) they let her wear it home, as long as she promised to bring it back the next day.
When we got home, we made a pretty basic dinner - nothing special - and then had cake and opened presents while Pepere and Abuelita joined us via Skype.
It was just the right kind of birthday for her...spread over the entire day, never too much at once, nothing unfamiliar and never too much attention or pressure. She tends to get overwhelmed by too much "party".
So, of course, we saved the party for later that week!
With a few of her (and my) friends from MOPS, we visited a new place called The Playdate Cafe, where the kids had all kinds of awesome things to play with, and moms could sit around the outer edge and chat while we watched them.
There was a little ball pit...
Dress up costumes...
Train table...
Even a fire pole, which I am still amazed that Hollie went down!
Afterward, we all met back at our house for cake and ice cream and more playtime! Hollie had a great time...but unfortunately Blake hit her limit and needed some quiet time with Mommy upstairs. When she was much younger she would get nervous about unfamiliar people in the house, and by now she seemed to have outgrown it, but I think the four new kids (all Hollie's age) and two moms was a little too much for her.
All in all, we consider it a successful birthday. Not too much, not too little...just right.
We also had a great time for my birthday yesterday! Daniel met us at a playground for a picnic lunch, and when we got home the girls both took a nap (as I had hoped they would)...woohoo! For dinner, Daniel cooked one of my favorite Cajun dinners that we rarely eat anymore: catfish courtboullion. It sounds fancy, but it's really just catfish cooked in tomato sauce and served over rice. Very, very yummy! :) Instead of cake, I had requested only ice cream, with lots of fruit for toppings and maybe a little chocolate. We had fresh strawberries, pineapple, and banana, and it was just perfect!
The birthday continued today, with my first prenatal massage...actually my first massage of any kind! I arrived late and was already a little nervous about the whole thing (even though it had been my idea) having no idea what to expect, so after the guy started he had to keep reminding me to take a breath and relax. He was very nice, and I did eventually relax. He told me about his six-month old daughter, who had been a very fussy infant but showed enormous improvement in sleeping and eating after a few sessions with a baby massage specialist. Something new for me to look into! The massage was fantastic and I hope to go back again sometime, maybe after the baby boy is here.
That's all for now! I have lots of pictures to sort out, but I hope to get all caught up soon. Goodnight!
