Today is Skyler’s birthday! She’s four years old. Four years of love and joy and kindness and all things wonderful. Her smiles brighten all of our days, and so we wanted to brighten hers with a birthday party this weekend.
Early on she requested to wear her rainbow-unicorn-tutu from halloween, so we basically just based the entire party off that: colorful, sparkly, magical… and ready to dance. That’s pretty much Skyler in a nutshell. She planned at least four different cakes, including a “spicy one for grownups,” but in the end she landed on… “rainbow.” We invited a fairy to come and do a little magic show and dance lesson, and Skyler invited all of her best friends. They were the sweetest little group!
I shared this photo on Instagram this week, but it’s just making me laugh. This is my view through the bathroom door—most of the time. This little lovely lady turns four on Monday, so we’re having a very colorful, sparkly party for her on Saturday morning. We first scheduled it for Sunday afternoon, until a few people were kind enough to remind me that there’s this big football game happening. Whoops! Saturday morning it is! It’s been so fun hearing all of her party planning wishes. I’ll be a little sorry to actually have to choose only one cake design this Friday. There are so many possibilities!
It’s been a busy time both kids. Hudson was Star of the Week in his class, so we made a poster with photos from his life; he brought a favorite toy each day, Tuesday through Thursday; and today, Aron, Skyler, Sawyer, and I will visit his class and talk about him! He also had his first violin lesson on Thursday. Then, on Monday, it’s his 100th day of school, so they bring a collection of 100 items and dress like a centenarian. That night we’ll celebrate Skyler’s actual birthday with family.
What are your plans for the weekend? Will you watch the Superbowl?
Finally, this article has been going around about “mommy blogging.” I made the mistake of reading the comments, which I found so offensive and generally sexist—so I’ve sort of put it out of my head. I felt myself agreeing with the author about the over-commodification dilemma, but too often these articles/forums stink of the prejudice that women should do things for free. I’d love to see a bit more grappling with the politics of calling these women “mommy,” too. As you’re blog readers, you may be interested in this one.
I mentioned last week that we just finished reading the first book in the Harry Potter series with Hudson. It’s been very exciting to start reading chapter books together; it evokes those scenes in movies when the hero or heroine steps into the enormous library for the first time, eyes wide open with possibility. The skills that come with it—focused attention, patient listening—reach beyond bedtime reading, in fact, to more podcasts and audible options in the car and on flights. His appetite is immense right now!
Mostly, we’re in the honeymoon stage wherein Aron and I debate who gets the pleasure of exposing him to some new exciting character or place—we both have fond memories of being read aloud The Little House series, and I’ve definitely got dibbs on The Witches. For Harry Potter, I read and Aron would come in each night and listen.
But as we go through more of our favorites, the challenge becomes picking the right book. It’s a commitment, now.
Here are some of our picks for best read-aloud chapter books so far. What are yours?
