Five!

Larkspur turned five on Saturday, but sadly between general busyness, and bad light, I hardly have any photos to show for it!

She woke with a big smile Saturday morning, spotted her birthday crown on the dresser and asked, “Is that my birthday crown?  Thank you!“

I would say that Larkspur is full of the most wonderful unhindered joy just at life itself of all of my children (she’s also the most extreme in the other direction as well!) The excitement of a birthday keeps that joy right at the surface the entire day despite the fact that we don’t plan elaborate birthdays, but favor very simple celebrations.  The magical little things that Lark says and does every single day seemed magnified on this birthday, because every moment to her was filled with anticipation of good things to come (specific requests included balloons and a chocolate bar.)

She is the truly the most uninhibited child I know when it comes to expressing joy at even the simplest things.

I remember the day when she and I discovered a pile of chicken eggs in one of our outdoor cat shelters and her exclamation of glee, “Mommy, look at the chicken eggs!  Or maybe…(in all seriousness) they’re cat eggs!”

Or the other day when she raced into the kitchen all urgency, “Mommy, come quick!  It’s the reddest cardinal I’ve ever seen!”

 The joy of a little one over simple things such as misplaced eggs and red cardinals is contagious in the best way.

This year I didn’t end up having the time or the energy to make Larkspur’s birthday gifts, but she forgave me of course.  In fact, she was quite thrilled to receive the frilly pink dress she had admired at Costco (of all places!) that I had managed to sneak into my cart without her noticing weeks ago.  I am so glad that I did!

It also occurred to me that rather than making gifts for Lark, I should give her some supplies to make things herself.  All it took to thrill her was some inexpensive acrylic paint and a few bags of wooden peg people and wooden eggs to decorate.  She immediately wanted to sit down to paint them, and instructed me to sit down and join her, which of course I did.

Larkspur also loves to handwash her doll clothes, so we gave her a child size portable clothes line and a set of rainbow clothes pins to go with it.  This gift she absolutely adored, but I did get chastised for forgetting that she would need a little laundry basket.

Oh, and cake!  Jonny made a triple layer strawberry yogurt cake with whipped cream frosting, as my children typically find buttercream too rich, and he covered it with sugared sliced strawberries.  Larkspur approved, and no one got a tummy ache.

So my little girl is five years old now, and she is quite proud of that fact. She has been doing her best not to go to bed each of these past two nights, because after all, she is much much older than Beatrix, so she should get to stay up a bit later, right?