gillian's big day

yesterday gillian turned 6. i have heard countless people tell me over the years how they couldn't believe how fast i grew, or how the time flies when you have kids and you wonder where the years went. i usually internally roll my eyes at this, because it seems so cliche to say it. yesterday though, i found myself feeling the exact same way when i looked at gillian. she was born only 6 short years ago. she was so tiny and fragile, cried all the time (and i mean ALL), and wanted to be held constantly.

now she is on her way to becoming a very lovely, well-adjusted, and independent young woman, which is very weird for me. i was talking to rick the other day about how i don't like it that we have these babies that we immediately have to start working toward giving up--concretely and emotionally--so they can become the adults they need to be someday. if i am too codependent, too needy, that won't help my children grow into themselves.

but i don't like it. i have small moments where i think, "is having kids really worth it?" and i say this because it makes me sad to think about letting go. i don't want to let go. i see why mothers smother their children.* it's easier than doing the right thing.

so enough sad talk: yesterday gillian had a blast with various special moments sprinkled throughout the day. first thing in the morning, she had a sprinkle donut with a candle, and aedan gave her his present from the Sanrio store. (incidentally, i picked out his present because once we got to the mall he just wanted to go to the playground and said "mom, you pick it out." gotta love boys...)

then after school, she got to see what her gram and gramps (my parents) sent her for her birthday: dollhouse furniture that my sister and i played with when we were kids. it will go inside the dollhouse we ordered her that just hasn't arrived yet.

marley had to be a part of the unwrapping because my parents have dogs and he could smell them. plus i think he thinks when anything special is going on, somehow it's about HIM. here are some more close-ups of the loot--it's just as cool as i remember.

after all the unwrapping and trying to be sure aedan didn't damage anything while he was running around and in and out of the pile of furniture (which prompted us to quickly pack everything up to get it away from the tasmanian devil), we went to a paint-your-own pottery place and let the kids experience that for the first time, which was quite interesting. gillian was confused because she thought she was going to MAKE her own pottery too. what an ambitious little girl she can be at times.

i think the highlight of gillian's big day, though, came that morning when she was biting into her donut and lost her third baby tooth. so last night she wrote a letter to the tooth fairy and also made her request known that this time she would like money, not a toy. apparently the tooth fairy was listening, because she woke up at 2 a.m. to find a dollar bill under her pillow. then she woke up aedan to show him. then they both got up and woke me up, and that woke up rhys, who then decided he needed a midnight snack...all in all it was a wonderful day, and we'll celebrate again on sunday with a tea party birthday with 5 of her friends plus nana (rick's mom). i'll be sure to post pictures next week, as i'm sure they'll be great!

*my sister, the counselor, pointed out to me that this might sound like i mean literally smothering my children. no need to call DSS anytime soon--i just mean smothering in the emotional sense so they will never want to leave me... :)