Our girl. Three! How can three years go so fast when the 6 1/2 trying to get to her were so painfully slow?! Time is messed UP, man. She can go from hot to cold faster than you can say her name, she'll instruct you on what to say (exactly) over hours of pretend play, her language continues to slay me on a daily basis, and her small little arms around my neck make my whole life. She's bright, funny, observant, willful, manipulative, stubborn, and for as much as she shines with language and grasping concepts, she struggles with gross motor and risk-taking. This girl still won't swing, climb, pet animals, or even blow out the candles on her cake in front of a crowd.
One wonders how a personality so commanding and vibrant in a small group could possibly shrink to the level of invisibility she seems to seek when overwhelmed. Anyway...we're working on it.
As with probably 85% of the other little girls on the planet under the age of 5, C has a bit of a passion for princesses -particularly the latest ones. She told anyone who would listen (and plenty who didn't) that she was having a Frozen party - and Elsa would be there. I'm having the time of my life with her birthday parties. YES they're over the top and YES a day or two before I want to quit the whole thing because it's taken up such obscene amounts of time over the preceding few months and YES I know it's this side of ridiculous. But you know what else? I've wanted to be a Mom for as long as I can remember - and waited 20 years longer than my mother did for a living child to finally find their way to me. Twenty years, people. And in most cases a good 10 years longer than the vast majority of my peers. All the years of wanting and wishing and hoping, the revenge for the years of pain and devastation of infertility and losing Anna, all tucked into what Aladdin's Genie would call an "iiiiiittybittylivingspace" of these few hours that are her birthday parties.
I'm not a cake decorator by any stretch, but I've had a ball and a half making hers. Last year's theme was Sesame Street and I made this (the letter Cs and number 2s are sugar cookies we made and decorated.)
Anna's cake was chocolate obviously ("I wanna stuff some chocolate in my faaaace!"), and Elsa's white because, of course. I made the fondant 3 weeks in advance with my good friend who taught me about fondant 4 years ago and kept it in the fridge. I didn't even screw up my first go-round with rock candy! Then it cracked the right way and I was instantly inspired to transform Elsa's cake into the Ice Castle, instead of just having the candy in a bowl as was the original intention.
We made Olafs out of marshmallows,
frolicked with play snow (corn starch + shaving cream with a dash of glitter because, Frozen!)
and had a piñata.
Fourteen kids ranging in age from 11 months to 14 years and even the oldest seemed to have a great time. Cate did great with everyone infringing on her personal space for gifts (Daddy's lap is pretty comforting)
but as last year, we had to blow out her candles lest her lovely guests be forced to eat wax with their frosting. (I just love the scene stealer from last year. He could not help himself!)
All in all, for as whirlwind as it is having some 40 people in your house while Armageddon rains pour outside, it was a glorious party celebrating the incredible little person granting me the most precious experience of my life. Being a mom to a living child is everything I imagined it to be and jillion things I couldn't. It is in every way the antithesis of being a Mom to a dead child. Which I haven't figured out how to be nearly as well.
Happy Birthday Sweet Sweet Girl!!
I am not a party thrower (my grief has taken me a different direction) but I am so glad to be a part of Catherine's wonderful birthdays! Thank you for letting us celebrate your beautiful girl.
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