She's a handful

Lily turned FIVE on Saturday.  Me wee-est bairn!  Babe of my bosom!....is finally that much closer to the age of reason, thanks be to heaven.  I shall mourn Julianna's passage into adolescence.  But loss of preschooler?  Not so much.  Crazy little monkeys the lot of them.  Cute?  Oh yes.  But they don't make good housepets.

Saturday night we went to the fair, so that Lily could get her birthday funnel cake.  Rides were ridden, chickens ogled, games of "skill" avoided.  Earlier we'd gone to the Small Angels annual picnic and Lily won a bingo game, so it was like double presents.  What says birthday like bingo prizes?  I'd gotten her one of those accursed damnable Webkinz.  Julianna had been on a quest for a husky.  Had to have the husky  Which, of course, was hard to find.  So I ended up calling around looking for it.  I swear, it felt dirty.  I couldn't believe I was playing their stupid game.  Blech.  But it was her money.  In retrospect, I should have had HER call.  I'll drive her to meet the dealer, but I am not making the contact.  The upshot, of course, is that these stupid animals became very attractive to Lily.  "Nope, sorry.  You have to be able to read to use the website."  Julianna: "No you don't mom."  "Thanks."  Of course you don't.  For those who do not house a child between the ages of 4 and 14, Webkinz are these beanie baby sized animals that come with a code in their sealed-until-you-cough-up-12-bucks tag.  Then you can log onto the website and play with your stuffed animal in a virtual setting.  There, isn't that nicer than having to pick up the actual toy and manipulate it?  Speaking of manipulation, other products tied into the Webkinz offer "special codes" to be used for more schwag on the site.  It makes bitter.  Because if I'd thought of it, I'd be a gazillionaire.  Damn.

Birthday party was Sunday.  Old buddies Emma and Sarah were there, along with new child Rosie.  Also Taro and Maeve from up the street.  A perfect size by my reckoning.  I've mastered the child party now.  Two games (in this case, pass the parcel and find the goody bags), cake and presents.  Then turn them outside for running and screaming, to call them back in for pinata just before the folks arrive.  Two hours.  No problem.  I highly recommend it. 

Oh, by the way?  No pictures.  My digital camera keeled over.  I'm on the film again.  I took the ailing digital to Ritz Camera which could make me feel like I was getting ripped off if they were handing me money.  The woman there looked up the average cost of repair for my camera and told me she'd suggest just buying a new one.  Oh?  do you sell those here?  How convenient for me.  I trotted back out, with my camera.  Later, I looked on the Canon website...oh look, both problems my camera is having are known problems with camera and will be fixed for free by Canon.  Fancy that.

I'm cranky tonight, it seems.  Anyway, Lily had a good birthday, capped off by an eNORmous amount of cucumber sushi.  Some days she seems to live on a squeeze yogurt and a couple of boogers.  Other days there just isn't enough food to put in her.

Oh, today at school, she did her birthday walk.  After the walk around the sun five times, her teacher asked her friends to give her five wishes.  Natalie said, "I wish....you had a friend."  Uh?  Thanks?  Emma said, "I wish...your house...was surrounded by TALL grass, as tall as the Empire State Building and it was full of flowers!"  Sara then chimed in, "I wish you had a flying unicorn!"  Aiden wished she had a helicopter.  It all sounds lovely.  Then it was time for the special snack I brought--those little ice cream cups with the paper lid you pull off and then you eat the ice cream with a wooden stick.  Only I brought 12 and there are 15 kids in the class.  Niiiiice.  I'm sure the kindergardeners will understand.  Right?  I lit out of there and headed for the 7-11 to buy a pint of ice cream and was back before the last kid was done.  Oy.  Way to feel like a heel, I tells ya.