On Lottie's Birthday

What a day Lottie had!   When she woke-up and snuggled into our bed, I wished her a Happy Birthday!  She said, “huh…I forgot that today is my birthday.”

This is Spring Break for Ann Arbor Public schools and probably other cities in Michigan also.  Scott got the kids breakfast as I tried to get myself out of bed.   We had to be out of the house by 8:30am for my Stroller Strides (which is now called Ann Arbor Fit 4 Mom) at the mall.  Luckily I can bring my two older children when school isn’t in session.  Fortunately, they are relatively well-behaved.  They do entertain the tots in the strollers and the tots seem to enjoy Chase & Lottie, so it works out.

We brought two dozen mini cupcakes from Cupcake Station Ann Arbor to share with the moms.  After our workout, everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to Lottie.  She was excited and eager for them to sing, but when they were actually singing, she felt shy and hung close to me.  It is somewhat embarrassing being the center of attention in that way.  Having it done to me on my 40^th birthday… you don’t know what you should do.  There was a lot of moms singing—about 15-to 18 of them and all the tots looking our way.  Hard not to feel awkward. 

Lottie and Chase went around offering up cupcakes.  I wondered if I should have told the kids to pick out the one they wanted and set it aside and then offer it to people.  I had this slight fear that what would remain wouldn’t be ones that my kids would want and there would be a fit of some kind.  I was preparing myself of telling them, mostly really telling Lottie, that we could get her a cupcake of her choice later. 

Luckily, they came back and picked one for themselves out of the cupcakes remaining.  What a moment!  That was a moment of real maturity—putting their desires and gratification aside.  It’s all those times, telling my children, “wait your turn” and for them to actually internalize it.  It’s one of those shining parenting moments for me.  I’m still astonished it happened and am so proud of them.  Perhaps they will become decent people.

We also have this huge “rehearsal” about what a birthday means and what it is not about.  I tell them it’s not a day where it’s all about them getting what they want.  It’s a special day to celebrate their birth.  There are special treats—gifts, cards, cake, and a special dinner.  They can’t boss people around or be rude.  This year, I wanted it low key.  I already had Easter egg coloring at my house.  Surprisingly many years we’ve hosted parties with about 25 - 30 kids at local spots.   Some have been the whole preschool class in my house.  This year, we were going out for dinner.  As my husband says, the discount birthday dinner seems to be the most expensive dinner of the year.  Lottie said she wanted to go to Real Seafood.  I think it’s because she doesn’t know what other places does the ‘birthday discount.’  In Ann Arbor, there are many establishments that give some kind of birthday discount-- free dessert with a full-price meal; discount on the birthday participant’s meal; free mini cupcake; free ice cream cone; free breakfast.  Check out http://arborwiki.org/Birthday_Deals  Lottie use to say McDonald’s and I have had to tell her we weren’t going there on her birthday because there is no discount.  This year she didn’t even bother suggesting it.

I don’t want birthdays to be all about the gifts and it was hard telling her that we weren’t going to get a bin at Learning Express this year.  Last month, she was saying how she was going to get a bin at Learning Express for all the toys she wanted.  For those who don’t know or have had the option of doing this, our local toy store, Learning Express, will give your child a big bin where they can fill it up with toys they want others to buy them for their birthday.  LE will put the name and birthday party date on the bin and guests can choose from the bin of toys.  While in many ways it feels tacky for you to do it with your child, I like it when people have it.  It doesn’t require me to interrogate my child for what gifts their friends would want or don’t already have.  We go to the bin and my child picks out something from the bin to give to the birthday boy or girl.  Super easy for me, more people should do that.

This year, I told Lottie we weren’t going to have a big party.  So far, she’s been fine with it.

liquid probiotics

After playing the mall for awhile, while I got my social time in with the other moms, we headed to the Brinery on the way home.  I wanted some liquid probiotics.  They didn’t have any at the Saturday Kerrytown Farmer’s Market and by some weird happenstance, I bumped into David Klingenberger at Mark’s Cart on Monday,  I didn’t know him but I had emailed him about getting some liquid probiotic.  Funny that the one day they didn’t take any liquid probiotics to the Farmer’s market, someone would ask for it.  Isn’t that how that always works?  So while I’m at Mark’s Carts—getting food from 3 different carts—San Street (for myself), A2 Pizza for Lottie, and Darcy’s for Chase, Dave asks Darcy’s cart if they needed kimchi.  I turned around and asked if he was with the Brinery.  Darcy’s cart said, “he is the Brinery”  I told him how we exchanged emails and well, I could pick-up some liquid probiotics 9am – 4pm in their shop Tuesday and Wednesday.  What is this liquid probiotics I’m talking about?   During the raw lacto fermentation process, lactobacteria, similar to yogurt, is created.  Lactobateria  helps the digestive system and supports the immune system.  It’s about the gut’s floral and keeping it healthy.  The Brinery makes raw fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and kimchi and those products themselves are probiotic, the liquid is also and it can be taken regularly.  I might not eat kimchi or sauerkraut daily, but I can drink a shot of the liquid probiotics everyday.  Once I got beet based one, but today I opted for the dill based one, since I plan to drink beet juice this week, I didn’t want to be all “beetened” up.

We stopped at Taco King for Chase’s lunch.  I’ve always wanted to go and we were near by.  Lottie had a minor protest.  This is when I reminded her that being her birthday didn’t allow her to dictate what other people were having for lunch.  She backed down.

Since I forgot my wallet and I spent more money at the Brinery than I expected, even though I knew that’s what would happen.  I have this mental expectation of “how much something should cost” and I knew that the last time I bought liquid probiotics, it cost more than I thought.  The cash that I had in the diaper bag was enough for 3 apple juices at the mall for the kids, a jar of liquid probiotic, and with loose change in the minivan, enough for a lunch special at Taco King.  I did have to get 9 cents from the penny dish at the register.

We had stayed at the mall playing too long, so Baby Boy was too tired for us to go to Learning Express for Lottie’s birthday gift.  I told her she could get a Beanie Boo.  What is a Beanie Boo?  Remember those Beanie Babies?  They are bigger Beanie babies, really isn’t plush animals with HUGE eyes.  They have a name, poem and birthdate.  Her friends have them and she wanted one too so they all could play Beanie Boo together.  It’s sweet.

Baby Boy went down for a long overdue nap.  I feared he might be too tired and cry, but he wasn’t.  He was just tired enough for a good nap.  Oh after a big poop that required me to change MY shirt.  Yes, I didn’t want you to think my life was filled with glamour of cupcakes, probiotics.

Older Boy was asked on a playdate, so I sent him off on his bicycle alone, through two-neighborhoods to his friend’s house. 

Little Girl loved having media time, which is watching Dinosaur Train as long as her baby brother remained asleep, unshared with her older brother. 

Ah, two hours of peace.

After nap we were back on the go.  Get Beanie Boo, pick up Scott from work and head off for birthday dinner.  Nice dinner and more cupcakes for dessert at home with Happy Birthday song to my Lottie-Girl by her family.  Happy 6^th Birthday!