Happy Birthday Ella!

By The Red Tent, February 25, 2016

And just like that, our girl turned four.

The night before felt like Christmas eve, like it always does. Wrapping presents, writing treasure hunt clues, cleaning, tidying, laying everything out, sorting out tiny details so tomorrow would be full of her most favourite things. It held a little more power this year, the small details, because around this age is a person’s first memory. She might remember this. It might be a page in her childhood book, not the one I write but the one she does. It might be a little flash of magic and “I belong” and tradition and family and “life is wonderful” that every child deserves to have and feel. Her life, her memories….I take them seriously.

Ella’s 4th birthday.

I choked up seeing this doll’s bed Joel made for her (the little note on the bottom – killed me), thinking that we’d keep it forever and pass it on to Ella’s children if she has some one day. Handmade presents are the best.

Bought presents are also the best.

After presents and breakfast, we headed to the kitchen to make cupcakes for Ella’s kindy friends the next day (or muff-cakes as Ella calls them. Me: Honey, why do you call them that? Ella: I don’t know, I just like to).

And then while they cooled, we jumped in the car and headed to one of Ella’s favourite places in the whole world: the Sandgate pool. “The one with the slides, mummy.”

The kids played some weird lying-down together game and all I know is that they share a secret language and giggle a lot.

Fish and chip lunch afterwards.

Where Ella reiterates for the 67th time that day how much she loves her new shoes and socks and “Can I wear them to pizza tonight, mummy? And what about to bed?”.

Billy remains cheeky.

Back home for naps, then muff-cake icing afterwards.

And best of all, family over and then to her favourite night out: to our local pizza place with promises of the chocolate cake in our fridge she’d been talking about since we specially picked it out together the day before.

And that moment I treasure every year: watching the look on my baby’s faces as happy birthday is sung to them, surrounded by all that love.

Sears my heart and burns straight to my soul.

Happy 4th birthday, honey.

Love you forever.