emmeline is 4!

 

In September a few weeks after school started Emmeline came into the kitchen and told me (word for word, I wrote it down): “I love school, I don’t want want to have any birthdays, I want to stay this age – every day and every year.”  How awesome (and rare!) to have a child be so happy in the present with who she is and where she is.  It made me happy to hear.

But it didn’t last forever, after a week or two of three year old bliss (and some mention by older siblings that she was going to have a birthday soon) she decided that she desperately wanted to be four.   She was so excited by the time her birthday finally rolled around in November. 

We had a perfect day.  4 is a good age.  They don’t really remember their birthday from the year before so expectations are low.  Everything we did for her she was thrilled with.  She chose pancakes for breakfast,lunch and dinner but consented to have her second choice of mac and cheese for lunch and pizza for dinner instead.

I think birthdays are especially thrilling for the child in the middle.  She just ate up all that attention. 

Hazel and Charlie were planning out her birthday for weeks.  They had an attic carnival complete with all kinds of art contests up in the attic for her and made her this cute card.  Charlie gave her his $6 from the hot chocolate sale they had a few weeks before and Hazel bought her a really nice little gift (Hazel is rich because she is perfect at getting all her chores done every week….subject for another post).

Since it’s her even year birthday she was entitled to a party, and since she didn’t have very high expectations I helped channel and craft her desires into a very low key tea party for 6 little girls.  It was one of my favorite parties to host ever.  Short and sweet and the girls were so into everything and Emmeline was (mostly) very excited about the whole affair. Except for right here where she is upset about something or other (see her with her head down?)

The girls made bracelets using up all our left over beads and then we had tea and danced to some of Em’s favorite ballet music and opened presents.  That’s it.  Simple and short enough for no one to have time to melt down.

She was very serious about blowing out her candles.  Got all four of them in a few blows.

I had to put this one (above) on here.  This is such an Emmeline face right now.   As you can see, Em is pretty into Hello Kitty right now.  We copied her cousin Lucy with a Hello Kitty cake (made by Hazel) and almost everyone in the family gave her something HK related. 

I like little 4 year old Emmeline.  When she is good, she is very very good.  But boy, when she is bad she is horrid.  But, when I put all that aside, I can see her growing into her self, figuring out this world of hers, fighting for a place in the middle, working out who she is and where she fits.  She is full of life: smart, funny, awesome at keeping her room clean, totally into dancing and make believe and dolls and she rides a two wheeler (WITHOUT training wheels) like nobody’s business.