Lucia: 10 Years Old

And the birthday month begins! Lucia turned ten today--double digits. She's been looking forward to her birthday for MONTHS. Maybe even since her last birthday. And she had a great day today. Putting together a perfect birthday celebration is a lot of work BUT it's ultimately gratifying because she truly appreciates and revels in every single detail.

Her day began when she woke up and saw her brand-new letterboard arranged on a chair in her room, the letters spelling out HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY LUCIA! (This was a very specific request she'd made.) Downstairs, I'd tied giant number helium balloons for 1-0 to a kitchen chair (these things are huge--like 34"). I'd also gotten her a bouquet of flowers with a Happy Birthday pick, which were in a vase at her place at the table. Two gifts waited for each girl, and they opened them right away: a Halloween Squishmallow, and a Calving & Hobbes book (Lucia) and a Fox Trot book (Greta). Andrew made waffles. Then the kids went to school.

Randomly, they had a half day today, so we were able to go out for lunch when they got home, at a Chinese restaurant. They brought their Squishmallows. We had a lot of fun. Then they played for a while at home, until Andrew got back early from work. Lucia wanted to open one more present before the next part of our day began, so she opened the gift Greta had picked out--a book and clear putty from our local bookstore.

Next up: we all (Farrah too) drove to Madison so Andrew could take the girls bowling while I took Farrah to her final Puppy Kindergarten class. Only at the end of class did I check my phone and see Andrew's text messages: the bowling place where I'd dropped them off was CLOSED, and they'd had to Uber to another bowling alley about fifteen minutes away. Apparently there was temporary upset, but they all got to the new place and had a great time. All three of them got a strike. I picked them up when Puppy K was over.

Lucia had waited ALL DAY to open her gifts, and when we got home, it was finally time. She loved everything. She was so excited. She got: a Connect Four ball-toss game, a giant NYC tote bag full of books, a book about Japan, a bag of mochi squishies, a Maileg Mouse, a set of fruit squishies, a painted slinky, a Gap sweatshirt, a NYC flip-sequin t-shirt, a bunch of fabric for sewing projects, watercolor markers, unicorn-donut erasers, a suitcase, and--the highlight--a Google Home Mini. As per our tradition, I'd also decorated her cake with tiny things--this year, Japanese-food Iwako erasers. She was over the moon.

We didn't end up eating cake until almost 9pm; it was a pretty late school night. Lucia didn't want to go to bed at all--she just wanted to look through all her new things. I wish she could stay home tomorrow; but alas, she has to go to school.

She's ten--ten! It was a great birthday.













Comments

Marion Goold said…
I'm glad u r back. I missed u! Happy 10th to Lucia!
😙 Marion