Two weeks before my birthday, my husband and I decided it would be a good idea if Kiddo got me a birthday present, so that she could start the (long) process of realizing that not all gifts are for her. And not all of life is about her. I suggested a candy bar. About a week before my birthday, he talked to her about a present for me. It was a sweet conversation. (Although I had excused myself from the room, and closed my door, it is entirely possible that I heard the entire conversation. Sorry honey, you talk pretty loud when you're talking to the kids.)He asked her what he thought I would like for a present. Her first suggestion was a cake in a white box (something from the bakery). He asked for another idea. She thought a moment, then told him I would like a book. She came up with the idea with no prompting at all. And she's right. I do like books.
For the actual evening, we had a party. We had party hats with Dora, because let's face it, a lot of our life is about Kiddo, and things that make her happy. In her world, parties come with hats, so we had some too.
Some friends of ours came over to watch our kids so my husband and I could go out to eat. Then more friends came over to share cake (in a white box, yum!) and play games.
Kiddo describes it as follows. "First our three friends came over [there were five]. Then we said surprise [they were all there by the time we got home from dinner, so they pretended it was a surprise]! Then we all wore hats, and momma and I blew out the candles with our lips. And we all had Dora hats, with Boots, and Danny [Benny], and Tikko. Then we ate cake. I ate all the chocolate, then all the cake, then all the ice cream. It was fun."And that about sums it up. I had the audacity to blow out the candles myself, so we had to relight a candle for Kiddo to blow out. Except she can't really blow yet, so she tried while I covertly blew from behind. It was a nice evening.
