The 5-Year-Old

 A couple of weeks ago, our little Ginger turned 5.  Here's how we celebrated.

SCHOOL

As is tradition, we took treats into her class for her birthday.  Would you believe, out of every treat in my repertoire, Ginger chose Zucchini & Carrot muffins - they are her absolute fav.  Plus she likes to help make them. 

 Luckily we got most of the veggies grated before my processor bowl broke to pieces.

 You can stop trying to unscramble the secret message now.  To dress them up a little, we piped each child's first initial on with cream cheese frosting, and added a conversation heart for good measure.

PARTY

After the birthday party fiascoes of 2011, which I think I was too upset to even write about, I gave the girls a choice this year:  a SMALL party at our house with a theme and several friends OR take ONE friend to Chuck E. Cheese.  Of course I'm not really a Chuck E. Cheese kind of Mom.  But if it means I can get out of throwing a party I'm up for it once a year.

Ginger had never been to Chuck E. Cheese, but had seen commercials on TV, so there was no hesitation that's what she wanted.  So that's what we did.

 Now that it's over, a few words about the Chuck.
First, I was pleasantly surprised that today's CEC is a far cry from the sketchy, dark & dingy, stale-smelling arcade of my day.  The place was clean and bright, though still as loud as ever.

 Second, I learned the perfect way to do a Chuck E. Cheese party.  Do it on a Saturday when there's been an ice storm, so all but the bravest (and/or those with a reserved party) will stay home.

 Next, schedule the earliest party of the day - 9:30 a.m., to be precise.  Not only will you get a bonus 100 game tokens, but you will have the place totally to yourselves until much later in the morning - about the time you're ready to leave.  Maybe that means you're eating pizza and cake at 10:30, but is that really a bad thing?

 Finally, do it with cousins.  When I asked Ginger who her one friend was that she wanted to invite, she said she wanted a cousin and she couldn't decide which one.  I melted.  I said if it's cousins, she can invite the whole family, so we had a nice little party of six kids (plus baby Freya) and four adults.  Pretty nice supervisory ratio.

 Initially we were just going to go to the place, not do a reserved party.  But a party comes with a few perks, so we sprung for it.  The one Ginger was most looking forward to was the Ticket Blaster Booth, which was indeed pretty cool.  Especially since she caught the 1,000-ticket ticket!  Seriously, the party couldn't have gone better.

 Even Ed had fun.

HOME

On Ginger's actual birthday, we had our own little family party.  Per her request, we made a brownie cake with mint frosting, and she decorated it herself with halved peppermint patties.

 Among her favorite gifts were this game, a pogo stick she is too small for, and some Slushy Magic shakers.

Ooh, just love that "candlelight" setting on my new camera!

Here's a vid I took of her on the walk to school one day.  She was wearing rainbow stripes from head to toe, and skipping, hair flying.  I couldn't resist.


And finally, we had her five-year-old video interview about a week later.  Here are some highlights:
How old are you?  Five!
Tell me about your birthday.  (Excited gasp) Well...(excited expression slowly turns to scowl)...that's too hard.
What is your favorite color?  Purple
What is your favorite food?  That's too hard, too
Tell me a few of your favorite foods.  Spaghetti, pizza, and mac & cheese
What are some of your favorite books?  Well I have one of them that I really want to tell you - The Doubtful Guest

Can you tell me what your favorite outfit is?  Um, that one I got for my birthday from you

 

Who are your friends?  Adelyn, Sid and Nadia
What do you like to do?  My cutting and maze book.  Or watch TV.  Or play on the computer.
What do you like to play on the computer?  ABCMouse.com, Nick Jr. and Starfall
What do you love about school?  Doing art
What do you not like about school?  Music class (she doesn't like the teacher)
What do you want to be when you grow up?  I have lots of things, but, but one of the things that I really want to be from my list is a dentist
What's the difference between boys and girls?  They have different things they like.  Give me an example.  Well, usually at school, if there's a friend I want to play with that's a boy, I might, I might be a little shy of their games.
Can you tell me the story of The Doubtful Guest?  That's too hard.  Tell me what you can remember. Well, he hides all the towels from the bath.
What's your favorite game?  I'll just say Cariboo.
Cariboo's a good one.  Can you explain how to play it?  You put in the balls and then you pick a card and then whatever color or shape or number or letter is on then card, then...for example, if I picked up a red triangle, if I picked up the color red, a red circle, then that, then I would, um, go around with the key to something that's red.  Then I'd put the key in the little thing of the hole.  Then it would open the little box up.  Then if I found a ball I would put it in this, like, little with a treasure chest at the end, that's treasure when you put the last ball in.  Um, um, and then you, and then, um, you go around and just keep getting cards and putting in the key.  And then whoever puts the last ball in is the winner, so, and when you put the last ball in, it's kind of hard to press it in, but when you do, there's a treasure chest at the end, and when it opens, there's a little purple jewel inside.
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There's no way to completely describe a person, to capture their every aspect, but a few of my own comments about Ginger at this age -
She is more organized and voluntarily helpful than her older sister.  She likes to clean the bathroom, so that is always her job when we get around to it, or when we have to do a quick-clean because someone's coming over.

As referred to in her interview, there's a boy at school that she has tried time and again to be friends with, but she just doesn't understand the way he plays.  I talked to her teacher about facilitating play, and she has tried, but in the end she suggested it is a Venus vs. Mars situation - he just likes to run around with no rules, and Ginger is a more organized player.  They're not on the same planet.  In other platonic news, there is a new boy at church that has a - I don't want to say crush at this age, I guess - let's say an interest in Ginger and they have had a few playdates.  He brings her cards and pictures he has made her each Sunday.