My Daughter's 6th Birthday

My daughter had her 6th birthday yesterday. She was so excited about it that she had trouble going to bed the night before. It was a lot of fun, though, to see her wake up so excited to open her presents, but we had to squash a bit of that enthusiasm because, alas, she had to go to school. We did let her open one present in the morning, however -- a bundle of colorful striped socks that she absolutely loves (she's always liked socks like that).

That morning, my wife and I went shopping while the older kids were at school and ended up spending far too much at Costco, but we got a lot of stuff we've needed. We got home just in time to start an episode of "Stargate", which a friend of ours who owns all the seasons has been lending to us. The kids came home halfway through it, and we thought it would be okay to let them watch a little of it ... more on that in a second.

So we finally did have a chance to open the balance of Megan's gifts. We called both sets of grandparents when she opened the gifts from them, so they could hear her squeal with delight in each case. She got a Tinkerbell pillow and a stuffed dog (in a purse, a la Paris Hilton!) from my parents -- which she absolutely loves -- and the movie High School Musical from my wife's parents -- which she also absolutely loves.

We also gave her the karaoke version of the music to High School Musical -- which my oldest son has actually been using more than anybody the past day, strangely enough -- and a little bit of "Spy Gear". Last weekend, a friend of hers gave her a "Spy Gear" kit that included a motion detector, a little parabolic dish for eavesdropping, and an invisible ink pen. We were actually planning on giving that same thing to her, so Angel took it back and instead got a pair of "night vision" goggles (really just a fancy set of green-tinged glasses with lights mounted on the side), and a funny little device that mounts on the hand with lights on each finger. She loves them!

But that's not all. My wife got her a Wonder Woman costume for her to wear on Halloween. She had a very hard time finding one that was appropriately sized and appropriately modest -- eventually buying one on ebay. My daughter's been wanting to be Wonder Woman for Halloween for months, but funny enough, yesterday she was telling us she wanted to dress up as a spy! Needless to say, we were very firm that she is going to be Wonder Woman for Halloween, and she can't change her mind. She was a little put out by that, but we weren't going to tolerate a change of mind after all the effort that my wife had put into finding the costume.

Anyway, as the evening progressed, the kids needed to go to their respective practices -- my daughter to soccer practice, my son to tennis lessons. I went with my daughter with my younger son in tow and she wasn't exactly focused on what her coach was telling her. She didn't follow instructions very well, nor did she participate as she should have. Today's soccer game will be very interesting knowing that not only is she unfocused but that her coach won't be there.

Afterwards, we all rendezvoused at "Elephant Bar and Grill" restaurant, which is her favorite place to eat out. Since we don't ever have extended family around for birthdays, we've made it a habit of allowing the children to choose what we do for dinner. (My older son, last week, chose to have "breakfast for dinner" -- pancakes and eggs.) She chose her usual -- chicken fingers and fries -- and they also gave the kids an ice cream dessert with their meals. She loved it.

It was a late night, though, since it was a Friday night and the restaurant was very busy when we went to dinner, so by the time we got home, it was bedtime. On the drive home, the kids peppered me with questions about "Stargate", of which they only saw about five minutes, and clearly didn't get "closure" when we didn't finish the episode because it got a little too scary for them. They are absolutely convinced now that there's a stargate buried somewhere that is just waiting for us to discover. Funny kids.

It seemed like a good day for her, though, even though she was really tired and had the occasional fits of disobedience and grumpiness. We tried to work through them well enough, and today she seems quite happy, and I hope she remembers it as a good day.