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!
