Laney´s Birthday

I cannot believe Laney is five. Not sure why, but it just seems a little strange to me and I know she is off to kindergarten in August. Still not sure why that is strange since she has been in school since last August everyday for four and a half hours. But I am her mother and does not need to make sense. I am so proud of her and impressed with all that she can do. First of all, I am very impressed with her Spanish and how well she speaks. I am also a little jealous of this too. She is extremely creative and loves to create things. You can see her brain thinking of new ways of doing things and making things. She can cut and glue like no other. She is a good problem solver too. Thank goodness since she does not like a lot of suggestions. She is independent and loves to learn. A trait that had her walking and talking at a young age. That was nice since she was only sixteen months old when Creed was born. By then she could walk zoo and tell me what she needed. I remember when she sat on the floor and would spend time just trying to put her shoes on over and over again until she figured it out. I see her dad in her when she  does these things and I think these traits will take her far. It is fun playing games she makes up and watching her create things. She is also pretty competitive. Shocker I know since she is the first born. Creed is learning a little about that now and wants to be in front at times when we are walking somewhere and that frustrates her. I love how she loves her brother. She likes to hold his hand when we walk and gets mad when he does not want to play with her. She is even getting more huggy in her old age and I love that. Laney is good at making friends and plays nicely with them at school and at the park. It seems like she listens to them and does not boss them in the same way she does her brother. I could go on and on. Some of you probably feel like I already did. She is an amazing little girl. I am thrilled that God chose me to be her mother.

Figuring out what to do for her birthday was a bit stressful for me. I know how serious people take birthdays and parties in Latin America. After many discussions with my teacher and then with the teachers at Laney's school I decided to just to a little class party. We are usually pretty chill about our birthdays and my teachers thought we were a bit crazy b/c of that, but my kids are at an age where they love a toy from the dollar store and I want to enjoy how excited they get over little things. I know the time will come when that will change. Anyway, I did not hire a clown for the whole school. I just brought some snacks, a cake and some favors to her class. She only has five others in her class so it was nice and small. Creed was able to join in on the fun. We danced a lot and ate and she got some presents from the other kids. She was thrilled to be the birthday girl. I decided on a Fresita party (Strawberry Shortcake) due to my dislike for barbie and princesses.

Those who know me know I do not want my daughter caught up in all that. She is a wonderful girl but does not need a prince to save her and make her life perfect. Anyway, she loves barbie and princess stuff. I knew it would happen I just hoped it would take longer. Oh well. She did get two barbies from classmates and she loves them. We had a fun birthday especially b/c Shera was there to celebrate it with us. We went out to dinner and she enjoyed all her gifts. She is still writing in the cool giraffe notebook Shera gave her with the fun pens.