Thursday, January 28, 2010

low-key celebration

Elizabeth's 9th birthday was spent in low-key celebration. We started to realize after several straight years of post-birthday party meltdown (and occasionally even a Christmas night meltdown) that Elizabeth doesn't do well with structured 2 hour birthday party confines. She becomes so excited that she's beside herself and she plans in her head, many times over, exactly how everything is going to go and how everyone is going to behave/react/interact. Needless to say, this is a recipe for failure and distress on the part of the birthday girl. Not that she hasn't had some great parties, because she has, but becoming distraught, even at the end of a great time, just isn't worth it. So this year we suggested to Elizabeth that maybe a more low-key celebration would be better and she wholeheartedly agreed. Actually, "that's a good idea. I don't do birthday parties well" is what she said. Here's to self-awareness!

After picking Elizabeth up from school and taking her to Whole Foods to pick out her birthday dessert (she chose Ben & Jerry's Cake Batter ice cream), we headed home for a simple meal and some art time by candlelight.


Elizabeth was so wrapped up in her art...


that her ice cream turned to soup. And she said, "that's ok, I'm not really hungry anyway." (Talk about self-awareness! How many kids do you know who just leave their dessert barely touched...on a regular basis.)


Her main gift was a new bed and room rearrange. I was surprised at how much energy she absorbed and reflected during the room changes we did last weekend. Her old bed was falling apart, and we had ordered a new one anyway. But she practically glowed at her chance for a "new" room. She was also thrilled that we hung her favorite quilt, made by a dear family friend, over her new bed.



She's also having a small sleepover tomorrow evening with 2 close friends but no planned party. Of course, we *might* just have cupcakes for dessert and we *might* have a family game night, but that's not an official party, right?


9 comments:

  1. Elizabeth's room looks so pretty. That's great that she had such self awareness and that the birthday celebration went so well this year.

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  2. It looks like the perfect day! I love how calm your home looks, I need to figure out how to make that happen here. For me, removing the kid clutter...or cleverly hiding it...may be the key. In any case, I hope Elizabeth had a great day and enjoys the weekend. By the way, I would like some of those butterflies for my scraproom! :)

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  3. Blogger's letting me leave a comment! Yay!

    She is indeed very self-aware. Kids don't usually have that quality unless it's been nurtured by parents, so well done, you!

    I love her new room and her birthday looked calm and lovely.

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  4. she sounds much like my daughter. happy happy birthday beautiful elizabeth! 9 was my favorite age!
    what a lovely way to celebrate and beautiful bedroom sprucing!
    nicola
    http://whichname.blogspot.com

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  5. What a sweet girl! Her room looks beautiful-- here's to NINE!

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  6. Sounds like Elizabeth had just the *perfect* party. :)

    I love her new room...very pretty!

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  7. My little one is only two but she shares your daughters feelings on the subject of birthdays. With her, less is more. I totally get it.

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  8. What a great celebration for Elizabeth-I think simpler celebrations really capture the joy. Her room re-do turned out wonderful!

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