Where Did My Baby Go?

Alternate title: Chickadee is SIX!

Chickadee turned six on Tuesday and true to our family tradition, she stretched it out for about a week. Chickadee is obsessed with outer space and astronauts so her birthday has revolved around that. There are planets (and one un-planet Pluto) hanging from our ceiling still. We cut into leftover Mars cake tonight, having already finished off the alien cupcakes and rocketship cake. Chickadee got a rocket ship tent and astronaut costume (among other space things) that she has not stopped using since last weekend.

Things to remember about Chickadee as a five-year-old:

1. Chickadee will say she wants to learn about everything. The other night she asked many many questions about babies and ended the conversation with: "Ok, so now I am into THREE things: space, science, and babies."

2. Chickadee's mind does. not. stop. Her sense of wonder...how and why questions...is constantly on and catches me off guard regularly. Big questions like can babies die on their actual birthday? or how do we have more cows if all cows are female? or small questions about how things work, why we do things a certain way. Her best question asking time is bedtime. The perfect stall tactic.

3 Chickadee is pretty tall now. She is definitely NOT the tiny thing she used to be. But she still loves to be carried and held. She tells me all the time that she will still let me carry her when she is 17 years old. I figure that's probably not the case, so I will carry her while I still can. Admittedly, she's getting a bit long in the legs for this.

4. Chickadee has a BFF named Annie, a "playground BFF" named Kayla, and a "boy BFF" named Oliver but she calls him Mr. Banks from the Mary Poppins movie (and he's apparently a good sport about it). She also has two recent imaginary friends whose names I cannot remember, but apparently they scare her siblings but not her.

5. Chickadee is obsessed with meat. She tells us that when she grows up, she will not have children because she wants to spend all her money on meat that she can eat all the time. Except breakfast. For breakfast she will have chocolate pancakes.

6. Chickadee officially moved into my room over the summer due to needs of other kids and foster care rules. MY room being HER room means that I now have more stuffed animals in my room than I did as a child and I often go to sleep with a projector light shining Saturn or a constellation onto the ceiling.

7. Chickadee is a dancer and singer and actress, oh is she an actress. She says the best thing at school is Music and the best song in Music is "Senor Don Gato". She has spent the year in gymnastics and has recently decided to keep going next year. She is a girl on the move.

I could go on and on about this kid. The truth is that she is probably the happiest kid I've ever had in the house. If she is mad or upset, it lasts about 2 minutes. She can make any one of us laugh by doing a funny dance, reminding us of a funny story, or attempting to tell a funny joke. I've always said she is a ball of joy and that hasn't changed still. I am so lucky to be this kid's mama. 

I love you, Chickadee. Have fun being six!

Seven-Year-Old Sunshine

My kids have learned well how to stretch their birthdays out for a week. May as well maximize things, right? Sunshine declined a birthday party. She wanted a roller skating play date instead. She met 2 friends at the rink (with her siblings in tow), skated a couple hours, ate a big pickle at the snack bar and called it a day. Tonight, she had chick-fil-a for dinner and a red velvet bundt cake. Throw a few presents in there and the girl is happy.

Things to remember about Sunshine during her 7th year:
1. We got two cats in the fall--Simon and Heidi. Sunshine cannot pass a cat without picking it up. No matter what she should be doing, she CAN NOT ignore the cat. She is extra thrilled when one jumps on her top bunk.
2. Sunshine likes a lot of people but she's one of those kids who wants a few really good friends and that's all she needs. She has a couple good friends at school that she would play with night and day if time permitted. Apparently, she and the couple of friends have a "club" at recess and they swap love letters regularly.
3. If Sunshine were forced to play one thing for the rest of her childhood, it would be babies. Not baby dolls. Babies. She can easily convince Junebug or Chickadee to be a baby. Sunshine is either the mom or the teenager every time.
4. Sunshine loves books. She is not yet reading much on her own but she can sit and listen to them for as long as I am willing to read. Favorites this year have been Harry Potter (books 1 and 2), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches and Dory Fantasmagory.
5. Sunshine is still the most serious out of the bunch. She doesn't mess around at dinner. She doesn't trick people or try to make them laugh. Every once in a while though, she crosses her eyes, sticks out her tongue and puffs her cheeks out, only to immediately go back to being serious. It's like all the silliness is tucked up in her brain and pops out for that split second.
6. Sunshine is still an animal lover. Her library books are almost always non-fiction animal encyclopedias. One was a vet book with real surgery pictures. On the ledge right now are two non-fiction books about sharks and sea animals.

I say it every year and it is still true. The thing about Sunshine is that her character doesn't change with age. She is the same kid she was as a two-year-old as she is now. She is loyal, kind, observant and just that teeny bit stubborn still. She keeps us grounded in a way no one else in the house does. We are all so lucky to have her loving on us.

Happy 7th Birthday, Sunshine.

Boy Boxers

A certain girl requested "boy underwear" for Christmas. She received 6 glorious pairs of slightly too big boxer briefs. Said child has spent the last 9 days in only her underwear when we have been home.

Two entertaining conversations re: these undies:
Two days after she had been wandering around in her underwear, she declared: Oooh look! These have a POCKET!

After sticking her hand in her "pocket" and realizing it was not at all a pocket, she said: oh, wait. I was wrong.

 **********

Last night, she was tucked into bed wearing only her undies when we have not reached a high of 32 in the last two days. It's freezing.

"Aren't you cold sleeping in just your undies?"
"No, I am so happy because boxers are so clean and so FRESH! They keep me warm!"

Wacko.