Lilly at 4

Every year since she turned one,  I’ve had Lilly all to myself on her actual birthday for most of the day. We’ve gone out for pancakes yearly, we’ve gone to the Discovery museum and the Children’s museum and the Public Garden. We’ve gone on merry go rounds and had ice cream for lunch and indulged in all of the silly ways that I firmly believe one should indulge on their birthday.

This year, for the first time, her birthday fell on the weekend. We had her party on Saturday and a full day of family fun planned for just the four of us on Sunday. The days leading up to the weekend were jam packed with picking out ice cream cakes, making approximately 26 trips to Target for last minute party supplies, cleaning the house for the party and crossing all appendages for sunny, dry weather so that we could enjoy the yard and the bounce house we rented. (And hooray for New England weather that actually cooperated with my requests and gave us a beauty of a day on Saturday!)

Still, I selfishly wanted my one on one time celebrating with Lilly and a chance to really soak up the last of age 3. I know and feel how quickly things are changing. I know that next year, when she starts Preschool a few mornings a week and I’m sharing her with a whole new world of people, the passing of time will only go even faster.  She doesn’t know how different life will be when September comes and we aren’t together all day, every single day anymore but I know. She’s got so much ahead of her, so much that I can’t wait to watch her experience, so many conversations that I can’t wait to have with her….and yet, I still wanted to grab hold of age 3 and remember this time when she is still so little, so sweet and honest and innocent.

Lilly is in full girly girl mode right now. When people asked what she wanted for her birthday, I said that she would love anything that sparkles and shines. She also loves making mud pies, picking up ants or other bugs that she can grab onto (much to their terror), gargling any liquid that she is drinking loudly, especially in public places and finding ways to get as dirty as humanly possible when playing outside. She’s a girl with many sides to her and one who grabs life by the horns and goes for it in a way that I wish I could channel sometimes.  Her volume is perpetually on high and the mysterious Boston accent still lingers even though no such accent is heard in this house. She’s as funny as can be, free spirited and wild, curious and kind, and still oh so snuggly.

And so, as her fourth birthday approached,  it didn’t take much convincing for me to indulge her in the most ridiculously impractical dress with sparkly and equally impractical shoes with a matching crown. That is, in fact, precisely the kind of silly indulging that I believe birthdays are made for.  On Thursday, we packed up her fancy tea set, and a very high-end lunch of peanut butter and jelly, goldfish, blueberries, cookies and pink lemonade and we had ourselves a tea party in one of the prettiest spots that I know of.  She practiced drinking tea (AKA lemonade) with her pinky held high, but could not resist gargling the lemonade, as I am certain that even Princess Kate does sometimes. She pranced around the gardens and the estate and reveled in the looks and compliments from people walking by, who noted her shiny crown and commented on how exciting it was to be in the presence of obvious royalty. She may even have curtsied once or twice.

Me, I just sat back and delighted in this little person who herself, sparkles and shines and who has made our family’s world a much sunnier place since she was born.  She’s four now and definitely a “big girl” if you ask her, (or  a”big guhl” if we’re spelling it the way she really says it) but no matter, she’s the baby, always the baby and still all ours, for just a little while longer.