Happy 4th Birthday Lela!

Birthday loot #1

First cake

Welcome to my party

Cake #2, the deluxe Cinderella ice cream version

Pinata line up

Sunday January 20th was Lela's 4th birthday. We had a small family party, the big princess bash scheduled for the folowing weekend. We pushed it back to give Lian time to heal from her Jan. 4 surgery. January 25 is also Lela's Family Day and the day when she entered her SWI four years ago. It's hard to believe that she has been with us 3 years. It seems like barely a minute since that tiny baby girl was paced in my arms in Guangzhou. I burst into tears - she stared at us and tried to gnaw her way through the wrapper of the cookie her ayis had given her. Now that solemn little baby has become a dramatic diva. Her multiple personalities include Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel (in the tub) , Princess Pea and Lady or Cleo (cartoon dogs.) Her preferred attire is purple, pink or Cinderella blue. In her universe, ball gowns and attempted hand stands do go together.

Her family party was low key event at Grandma's house. Uncle Kirby and his PSLQ, Helen, were in town. I bought a cake, gasp, since I was committed to making 80 cupcakes for her big party and her music class, and enough is enough. Lela's favorite - a dress up bride gown.

The birthday bash was a big party at her request. Almost her entire Chinese class attended, along with friends from town, so we had 15 little girls in full princess regalia. Three Cinderellas, 3 Belles, 2 Auroras, 1 Snow White, 1 Ariel, 1 Tinkerbelle, 1 Jasmine, 1 non-Disney princess, and 1 stylin' in her own beautiful pink and black party dress. They had a blast. I had overdone it, and had too many activities to actually do, but they strung bead necklaces, frosted cupcakes (using pounds of icing) scrambled for the pinata goodies, ate snacks ( I acually made jello jigglers) , pizza and ice cream cake, and played together. We are lucky enough to be able to hold the party in our church Sunday School rooms, so we had the big nursery with lots of toys, and the pre-k room down the hall for food and crafts. We also had 21 adults. I haven't given that big a party in about forever. I think everyone had a good time. I was a little frazzled by the details - like the fancy $4 Cinderella candle for her birthday cake that wouldn't light. And it was a long party by kid standards, 2:30-5, and actually ran to 5:30. All the girls left with goody bags full of the excess of toys and candy I'd bought for the pinata. It was a three tower castle, but it turned out I could only fill the central tower, so lots of left overs. Plus the bonanza from 8 months ago when the dollar aisle at Target was full of princess stuff. We barely got the place cleaned up before AA came for their meeting (the only problem with using the church.)

Then on to Grandma's house for the opening of the presents. Lela ripped into them with determination, while I demanded cards and names. Her favorite; an Aurora sleeping bag and pillow. She's been sleeping on the floor of her room in it since the party. (For the uninformed, Aurora is Sleeping Beauty, Disney version.) We took an expedition to Toys R Us with a gift card she'd recieved. After long and carefull consideration, she came home with a new princess sticker book, leaving a balance for another time. When it's her own "money" she is much more selective. When asked what she got for her birthday, she replied, "I have soooo much princess stuff."

Lela also had her annual check up, an occasion for much angst and wailing. She really, really doesn't like doctor visits. Unfortunatly she had just relaxed when her pediatrician announced she needed two booster shots. She's grown three inches this year, slowing down to a more normal grown pattern. Her first year home she grew over 5", coming up to her genetic potential, which looks like ending up about 5'2". I'm buying size 4 at the sales for next season, moving out of the baby girl section, sigh. It looks like she will always run a size behind her age, and her waist will be many sizes behind - she can still wear 18 month shorts and skirts.

Her mouth is many years ahead as Jamie found out one evening. We sometimes have musical chairs at dinner, as the girls preferred seat is in our laps and ours is everyone in their place. Lian had crawled onto Jamie and he had put her in his seat and was pretending to sit in her high chair. Lela pipes up, "I don't think you'll fit your great big butt in there, Papa." Another time, when she had extracted a promise out of him, she immediately released her huggy, lovey hold, sat up and giave him a thumbs up, saying, "Way to go, Papa."

Watching her learn and grow has been an aamzing experience. Last week, Lela "got" addition. One night at the dinner table, she suddenly announced, "Watch this!" She held up 2 fingers on each hand and counted, "one, two, and three, four." She went on to count varoius combinations fo fingers.

So Happy Birthday, our darling girl, and many, many more. Our lives have been much more exciting, noisy, fancy and happy since you came. I hope and pray I will be there for you whenever you need me, to see you stretch your wings and learn to fly, even for the crash landing. I love you more than words can ever express, all the way to the moon and back.
Love forever, Mama