Sylvia is 4!

So, this happened. And now, 4 years later, I have this funny, quirky, chatty, clever, kind, stubborn, occasionally devious little person living in my house, bossing me around.

I was nervous about Sylvia's fourth birthday coming so soon after the move -- before she really knew anybody locally with whom we could celebrate. Fortunately, we were away at a conference for several days before her birthday with many friendly faces, and we all got together to throw her a little party in a hotel lobby -- complete with decorations, cookies, and presents. It was a pretty decent affair considering that we had to 'plan' it with absolutely no idea what kind of space we'd be able to find, and it took place less than 24 hours after our plane landed.

Sylvia had fun.

And she had a good week. During the conference she got to hang out with her Gramma & Papa, who flew out to help with the kids. And then we hung around for a few extra days for down time with friends. (This post is about a birthday, so I won't say too much about the trip, but it was surreal having so much time without Mom'ing during the conference. The grandparents were amazing, and the kids really made us proud. And in our down days with friends, we actually got to hang out and play games at night when the kids were asleep, which was also a nice break from our normal lives!)

Sylvia's birthday was only 2 days after we got back home from our trip. She had one day of school in between, and the school told me that they didn't want me to bring treats for the kids, but they encouraged me to bring a 'craft'. Like a sucker, I took them up on it and ended up preparing a craft for most of the day and then spent over an hour in the school helping with the craft and then getting dragged around to read books and watch kids do whatever they do. But in the middle of it all, all Sylvia's classmates sung happy birthday to her, and she dug her little face into her little hands and beamed.

We decided that all of the above should be enough to satisfy the need for group celebrations, and we planned to have a family outing on the actual birthday. Sylvia woke up and came downstairs to find a pile of presents, and she was so content to play with them that she didn't want to go on any of the outings we suggested. We did make some cupcakes that we shared with some neighbors. And on the promise of noodles and ice cream, we got her out of the house for dinner, where she was again sung to with her face in her hands. All and all, I think it was a good birthday.

"How old are you?"
(Both girls actually did answer correctly; don't hold my shoddy camerawork against Sylvia!)