Happy Birthday Ya Ya (and Miss Morgan)!

Ella anticipated her birthday for weeks leading up to it, due in large part to the fact that she shares a birthday with her teacher, Miss Morgan.  For anyone who knows Miss Morgan, it should come as no surprise that their mutual birthday has been something to talk about at school the entire month of February (probably more accurately, the last 364 days). Not that she’s egocentric by any means – Miss Morgan is just excited, outgoing and demonstrative.  Miss Morgan loves birthdays and loves that she shares hers with our Ella.

Needless to say, Ella's known her birthday would be here soon since the beginning of February.  All month, she'd randomly utter “Happy Bir-day, Ya Ya.”.  She'd even sing it in her quiet, not so confident voice every once in a while, sometimes initiated by me, other times initiated by herself.  February is a month of extended Leatherman family birthdays – it was hit or miss whether she’d wish the birthday Leatherman a “Happy Bir-day” or wish herself a “Happy Bir-day” under the guise of wishing the real birthday person a “Happy Bir-day” – I don’t think Jimmy Jimmy heard Ella say “Ya Ya” instead of “Jimmy” when we sang Happy Birthday to him last Saturday.

In addition to singing “Happy Bir-day” to herself, Ella learned the correct answer to the question, “How old will you be, Ya Ya?”  “Thdoo!” she consistently responded all month.  I don’t know if she really knew what that meant, but she sure did know she'd be it.

Every once in awhile (before today), I would think to myself last year at this time, she was still nursing.  And two years ago at this time, she was still in my belly.  Two years is so recent, yet those experiences… those states of Ella’s “personhood” seem so distant.  She actually is a person, and it seems that she's been with us as long as Cal has.

This morning I dressed Ella in a jean skirt, a gray shirt with a decorative flower on it, a pair of pink tights and her black mary janes.  She's usually in jeans and a t-shirt, and I wanted her to look special today.  So in her birthday outfit, here's how Ella the person's day went...

First stop: Dr. Persak.  When I made the appointment a month or two ago, I was asked, "You don't want to schedule it actually ON her birthday, do you?"  Amused, I answered that it didn't matter and that it mattered more that I have that 7:45am appointment -- so we kept it, and it worked out really well.  I don't know about Ella, but I like going to see Dr. Persak.  We've been there for several well visits, a few ear infections and even fewer viruses.  Nothing too serious, and it gives me a chance to run an occasional child-rearing question past her (today's was actually about Cal, who at the time was crawling around under the exam table).  Today we learned that Ella is in the 90+ percentile for weight, bmi and head size and in the 70+ percentile for height.  She has a little fluid in her ears (not surprising considering the colds we Leathermans kept exchanging) but otherwise checked out great.  And no shots.  It was a great start to a birthday.

Next up: School.  Though I had the day off from work, I wanted to take the kids to school at least until after their nap so that I could have some much needed alone time and get a few things done and so that Ella could celebrate her birthday with her friends and fellow birthday mate, Miss Morgan.  Ella also had some little goodie bags (with a book, a puzzle, a ball and a Minnie party favor) to give to her friends and a Hello Kitty pin for Miss Morgan to wear (Miss Morgan LOVES Hello Kitty).

The reception for Ella when she arrived at school could not have been better.  Usually, Ella's one of the first in her class to arrive at school -- today, she was the last, which made for a lot more hoopla about her arrival for me to actually witness.  I was so proud -- she is liked!  As for the rest of Ella's day at school, I'll let the pictures that Miss Morgan laid out for us tell the story.

 

And then: Some Trampoline Time.  While the kids were at school, I assembled the toddler trampoline, Dan's and my gift to Ella for her birthday, with the full expectation that she'd share it with Cal.  Once assembled, I put it in our "dining room" which had been comprised of a bar/buffet table and some plants.  The first Ella saw her trampoline was after school.  I picked the kids up early, got them in the house, unloaded the groceries from the car and finally came inside the house myself to find the kids jumping on the trampoline together, smiles plastered on their faces and excited words coming from their mouths.  All I could think was Score!  I think we have a winner.  Of course, that was only five minutes into actually having a trampoline to use, so the verdict is still out.  I haven't thought through all of the monitoring Dan and I will have to do of their use of it (I mean, are they supposed to be jumping on it together?).  But so far, so good.

Finally: Choo Choo Johnny's... of course.  I don't think anyone would be surprised to hear that we went to Choo Choo Johnny's for Ella's birthday dinner.  Enticed by a birthday coupon and fully aware of what's in store for us, Choo Choo Johnny's is just what we Leathermans do for our kids' birthdays.  This time, Grandma and Papa Leatherman joined us.

It was nice, fairly uneventful and ripe with the daily challenges Dan and I face with these kids -- Cal was in and out of his seat throughout dinner, both kids had to be coaxed to eat their dinners (only one -- Cal -- actually did), Ella was hit or miss (mostly miss and sticky) with the spoon in her fruit cup, and Cal, at times, actually spit food out of his mouth... intentionally.  All very predictable.  What surprised me was Ella's reaction to the Choo Choo Johnny's birthday song and ice cream delivery -- it was very similar to Cal's (see post about Cal's birthday: http://theleatherkidchronicles.blogspot.com/2012/12/happy-birthday-choo-choo-johnnys-style.html).  Just didn't like the attention.  She buried her head into my shoulder as the waitresses sang and people around us clapped along.  Once it was done, Ella re-emerged, smiling.  And she successfully blew out her candle.

In the end, I don't know if the day played out as Ella had anticipated it would.  Probably not.  But I don't think it could have been a more perfect day for my not-so-perfect but perfect baby girl who, at two, is not a baby anymore.

Happy Birthday, my smart, beautiful, funny, stubborn, independent, sweet Ella!

And happy birthday to Miss Morgan, too!