My Baby is Four

Today Monkey2 is four. My baby is four years old.

She opened all her presents before breakfast, the necklace her sister had made her, the bike bell, the me & dolly stripped zebra dress I made, the curved travel pillow shaped like a cat that I made, and a box of other clothing, second-hands that I've been saving.

I think Monkey1 felt a bit left out. Her birthday is next month, and while getting dressed for school she changed the calendar to April.

Monkey2 had school for the morning, and we brought a box of cookies for the class that we had made yesterday. I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe, without the chocolate chips. I squirted green frosting in the shape of a cross on the top of each cookie, and Monkey2 added a mini-marshmallow in the center.

After school, lunch at home, we went back to school/church for her violin lesson. This was her third lesson. The teacher added more little pieces of yellow tape to the fingerboard to show where the fingers hold down the strings. At the end of the lesson, Monkey2 proudly told her teacher that her birthday was TODAY. So her teacher pulled out her own violin and played "Happy Birthday." Monkey2 was so mesmerized, intently watching the fingers on the large violin, that she was hardly paying attention to the song.

Then, rather than go home and come back again for Monkey1's school pick-up, I had tossed Monkey2's bike and new bell in the car. We took a little walk/ride around the block, and then sat down on the benches outside church with a coloring book until the end of day bell rang.

Supper was Monkey2's favorite: Chinese take-out. The paternal grandparents came with gifts too. More costume changes as she tried on all the cute spring fashions and cuddled the stuffed animal dogs. (She dearly wants a real one.) With much huffing and puffing, she blew out the four candles on her shamrock shaped cake, her requested flavor: carrot cake with green frosting.

New Hello Kitty nightgown for bedtime, a chapter of The BFG, and tuck-in and prayers. Same as for the past two years, both Monkeys prayed in hopes of future siblings.

My baby is four. I guess that means she's not a "baby" anymore. She's certainly too heavy when she tries to sleep though older sister's school pick-up and I try to carry her on my shoulder.