Half a Decade young!

As adults we're often spending time trying to forget just how old we are, hoping that, one of these days, some new technology will be able to bring back memory, smooth skin and the bounding energy we once had. But for a four year old getting older is pretty nifty stuff!  Amalia had us all on a countdown for months, asking every few days and making the adults in the family have to count the days ("How many days in February this year?") over and over again. But then the number got small enough for her to keep up herself and she was delighted to find out that all of Malaysia took her day off as a holiday as well! How cool was that?!?  

The night before, as the girls slept, mommy and daddy arranged all the presents, prepared the food and put together what is quickly becoming a tradition in our house. The number of years ("5" in this case) cut out from colored paper, indicating the direction from the bed to where the presents are... when Amalia woke up she just followed the fives stuck to the floor, leading her into the living room. There, waiting for her, were her presents from the family, including a game we would play later on during her party. 

The down side of parties on a holiday is that some of your friends are actually out of town when that happens, but we had asked Amalia is she preferred to keep her party on 'her day' with less people or have more people on a different day. She chose to stick to the day. And in the end it made for a great, but smaller event. 

One wouldn't know from the pictures that she had difficulty with the idea of sharing goodies (say by hitting open the pinata or putting them around the building for a scavenger hunt) and mommy and daddy were often trying to persuade her that the party was for others as much as it was for her. Thankfully Ms. Brooke, who taught Amalia last year, was an invitee (as she always is) and was able to get Amalia to part with her personal wants and get into the sharing sprit. By the end of the event all was well and happy. 

To the rest of the children it probably didn't matter and, by the time the last few friends were jumping in and out of the pool, one would never have known that we have "our moments" on that day. Growing up can be emotional sometimes, but the love? It's still going strong. We love you little one!