Metal Meredith

Vivienne had a super birthday. No parties here. We have gone to too many and witnessed Vivienne not fully participate enough to not want to toss $300 in the trash. A friend mentioned that she allows her children to choose between gifts or a party. We will certainly be using that method from this point forward.

Vivienne’s day started with her tip-toeing into our room in the morning and asking if today was her birthday. Then, Phil and I both commented many several times about how BIG she looked and how TALL she was and how OLD she was acting. She ate it up.

We went downstairs and immediately opened presents. In true Vivienne fashion, she was not outwardly joyous, but her unwillingness to part with a few things in the following days spoke volumes. From us, she got a superhero cape with her initial on it, super binoculars, an Incredibles book, a Toy Story 2 book, a Woody figure, a Slink figure, Hello Kitty umbrella, Hello Kitty underpants, and a bald eagle stuffed animal (named George).

We also took time to enjoy her cake. She asked specifically for a Butterfly/Spongebob/Dinosaur/Superhero cake. I was a little overwhelmed with trying to get all those things on one cake, so I set out to find a Butterfly, Spongebob and Superhero balloon. Then, I had this cake made for her. I think it captures her likeness.

She also was lucky enough to get a new bike from Grandma, a trip to Toys R Us from Grandpa and Nancy, this gross eyeball/tongue puppet from Sissy, a backpack full of sidewalk chalk from Henry, and the coolest cake ever made by her cousins and Grammy.

I think she saw all of her immediate relatives plus a few extras. Hopefully, that was more special than any other gift.

Feel free to pop over to the video account and check out the day’s movies. (see link at top right)

When Vivienne was about one and a half years old, we bought her a magic wand. It was silver with a sparkly pink star on top, pink ribbons and pink feathers. We used to watch her wave it around and we would ask her “Are you going to make a wish?” She would answer “I don’t know how!!” and throw the wand on the ground with a giant pout. Phil and I were so worried that she had no imagination. We would fret over the fact that she couldn’t make up a wish.

Things certainly have changed.

Phil had a pen in his shirt pocket one night when he was reading to Vivienne in bed. I am unsure how it all came about, but before I knew it Phil was coming down the stairs, handed me off the pen and said “here, go draw some little guys on her fingers.”

Vivienne has A LOT of stuffed animals. At times, she will baby them, doctor them and feed them. On this day, I walked in to “the feeding line”. She had lined up all of her smaller stuffed animals and went down the line one by one to feed them.

I posted about this once before, but it is too good to not explain again. Vivienne was in her playroom one afternoon and was painting. She came out a few moments later and had painted three brown stripes on her chin. She put my glasses on and said “I wanted to look like Dad!”

Vivienne spent the afternoon outside one day. She was just playing in the backyard with the cats and ran inside. “MOM! I have to make a picture for my friend tree!” She got some markers and a piece of paper and sat down to create. She made a lovely picture of a girl and a tree and some letters that said some long thing like “Dear Friend Tree, I like your leaves. I hope you like to live outside. Be nice to the birds. Love, Vivienne”. She ran back outside and taped the picture to the fence beside the tree. She then found a few of those marker flags and put them at the base of the large pine.

I have more tales that she tells but no photos for them. She has a few consistent imaginary friends. One is a bald eagle named George. She frequently goes on rides on George, to Grandma’s house, to Grammy’s house and other various friends’ houses. She also has a tiny meatball named “Sweetie” that seems to show up in the darnedest places, on the ceiling of the restaurant, under the car, rolling behind you on the highway. Sweetie has been around for a while and I don’t think she will be going anywhere anytime soon.

Oh, and Vivienne has finally figured out how to make a wish.

When I was pregnant with Vivienne, everyone gave me crap about how I would probably dress her all in black and dye her hair. I always stood by the fact that I didn’t care what she wanted to wear once she was old enough, but there was little chance of her dressing up a la JonBenet while I was making the decisions.

This year found Vivienne coming into her own as far as her looks. When school started, she was happy in her sporty clothing:

Sometime in late fall, we found these tights, which Vivienne called BagTights:

After getting slowly into the clothes thing, she started asking for hair styles. First it was ponytails:

Then we went to a Princess Party at a kid’s salon and they gave her a fancy hairdo:

Although she refused to put on a princess dress like all the other girls, she had the best hair there. There were fits thrown and tears shed when we explained how she couldn’t sleep in the curls and they would be gone in the morning.

From there it blossomed into things like jewelry and nail painting:

Of course, sometimes she picks out her own outfits and then this happens:

She now insists on wearing things that are “pretty” which apparently translates to having flowers, sparkles and/or stars and glitter. I have yet to be embarrassed by her choices, but there is plenty of time for that.