DC Metro Moms

The Joy of a Birthday

June 12^th is my 12^th birthday.  Well, not really.  This year, June 12^th marks the 12^th anniversary of my bone marrow transplant at Georgetown Hospital.  Thinking about this anniversary led me to thinking about birthdays in general and then about my daughter’s 6^th birthday this fall.  Children’s birthday parties are hard to plan. You need to consider the season, the weather, the temperament of the children, and of course, the type of cake. I love children, but the idea inviting a handful of five & six year olds to my house to run around and do crafts (aka make a mess)? No, not so much.

Last year my daughter did not have a “party.” We took a few girls to see The Princess and the Frog and then went for ice cream.  We struck a deal with my daughter that every other year, she could have a party.  On the off years, the celebration would be smaller.  I digress, back to this being the party year.  

In the midst of all this thinking (yes, I am aware that it is a bit early to be planning a November birthday), I came across the Pepsi Refresh Project- where Pepsi gives away funding for local community based ventures based on the results of an on-line vote.  This led me to “Brightening Birthdays.”  Brightening Birthdays was developed by a Georgetown University business student, Marcy Humphrey to make it possible for children and teens to have birthday parties while in the hospital.  I was struck by the simplicity of this project, and the far-reaching impact that a birthday celebration could have on a child that is hospital bound on their big day.

Do you jump in puddles?

This morning (despite a stuffy nose and sinus pressure), I put on my running shoes and left the house, leaving my husband and daughter to fend for themselves.  As they made French toast, I jogged down the wooded Accontink Creek Trail which today was full…full of puddles that is.  I did my best to avoid each puddle which meant a crisscrossing from left to right, right to left, and sometimes even running on the shoulder of the trail.  As I maneuvered (I have been know to be a klutz) carefully, I began to wonder:  at what point do we stop wanting to jump in puddles? I am not sure I was ever a big puddle jumper (playing in mud or getting dirty in general were never activities that I sought out as a child), but a good jump with a far reaching splash?  Wouldn’t that be fun?

In my other life, training for a marathon, it made sense to avoid the puddles when possible.  Who wants to run 20 plus miles with shoes that feel like bricks?  But a short run?  Would getting all wet and muddy really be that bad?

Life Cycles Big and Small

Life cycles are events that mark major moments in our lives.  My daughter's next big “event” will be her bat mitzvah in eight years and I am putting in black and white now that she will not have the "wedding" (aka- over the top, need a second mortgage) equivalent of a bat mitzvah party.  It is a big deal for sure, but being thirteen does not entitle her to an event fit for a queen.  In the meantime, I wonder about the smaller events that mark the transitions as she gets older and it occurs to me that in the span of the next few months we are going to hit some MAJOR small events that, at least in this moment, seem HUGE. 

Now, you may wonder, what small events could rank up there with the coming of age.  In our case, there are three:  a loose tooth, the transition to a big girl bike (think two wheels instead of four) and then, becoming a kindergartner!  It is true, I think that these may be more important to us as adults than they are too her (especially the bike—she is not all that excited about moving to a bike without training wheels)….but for me, suddenly my little girl seems SO much bigger.  As I try to prepare for these events I have to admit that for a few brief moments I merged these two events. I am embarrassed to admit it, but as I hit the trail this morning for a run, I had the idea that maybe the big girl bike could be from the tooth fairy.  Yes, I came to my senses pretty quickly, (I blame my runners high)….and realized that this might just set a bad precedent.

You hurt my feelings

Lately, I keep hearing a chorus of “You hurt my feelings” over and over and over again.

Yes, you guessed it, the author of said quote is none other than my daughter Principessa, who at 5 ½ has become very skilled in the art of negotiation, manipulation, and all things “self.” When given a direction that she does not particularly care for, or if, gasp, given a re-direction, she gets a pouty look and says, “You hurt my feelings.”

As a ten year teaching veteran, and going into my 6^th year as a parent, you would think that I have this stuff covered by now.  Nope.  Not at all.  I have not figured out how to help this only child of divorced parents, who now finds herself with a new step dad, to understand that life is not all about her.  Plus, there is a problem:  life really is all about her.