I’m not sure how it happened, but my girl turned 4 this week!
Part of me wants to rejoice in her newfound independence and preschooler status. Another part of me wants to cry because she’s my firstborn, my baby. And she’s 4!
Instead of a big party this year, Melia had several smaller “celebrations”! The day BEFORE her birthday, she had a playdate with her best buddy, Ryan, from school!
On the DAY OF her birthday, we went to a friend’s birthday party in the morning, then celebrated with just the family at night.
Here is Melia proudly posing with her beloved Cinderella cake! I think this cake alone made her forget she didn’t have a party this year!
The day AFTER her birthday, she got to celebrate at school with all of her classmates. That’s her teacher, Miss Amy.
This is a sun in the center of their class “circle”, with each ray representing a month. Melia had to walk around the sun while holding Earth with each orbit representing one year of life. After each orbit (Melia circling the sun), they’d talk briefly about what Melia was like at that age.
Melia walked around the sun four times. She was giddy with excitement and pride. I think she loved all the attention!
On a more serious note: I really liked how birthdays are conceptualized at this school. Kids need to learn that birthdays don’t just mean cake and presents. It means you’re one year older, and that means you’ve gone around the sun once again.
Melia is wearing a shirt with artwork she drew. Lawrence, Ian and I wore our respective shirts with Melia’s drawings that day too.
Miss Jey is also a teacher in this class. She is holding the photo collage of Melia at each year of life to show the students.
Melia also got to play games at Super Franks today with her cousins, Derek and Sydney as her final birthday celebration. I was worried about Melia being disappointed about not having a party this year because she had been talking about a party for months.
But I think — no, I know — she had a great week! 😀