The Banana Celebrates

You only turn three once, of course, and The Banana has been waiting and waiting for her birthday for months.  We did our best to make it a very special day.  Things started off, of course, with breakfast in the bathtub.  The Banana had requested pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for her early morning feast, so I was up several hours before sunrise baking (and getting other birthday matters ready).  This year Dr. Peds even joined in the fun, which the kidlets thought was hilarious.

Because it's nearly impossible to stare at a table full of presents all day, and because the whole family is together in the very early morning hours, immediately after breakfast The Banana let loose on a pile of packages.  She was just over the moon with excitement.  We started with Ya Ya's present, just in case things took extra long and it was time for the big sister to zip off on the bus.  Ya Ya, ever thoughtful, spent several hours making all sorts of necklaces and bracelets out of beads and elastic for The Banana.  The Banana put them all on at once and beamed.  Ya Ya also made her a paper purse with pipe cleaner handles, complete with a paper cell phone, paper sunglasses, paper keys, and even paper money and a paper credit card.  To compliment, Mr. SP painted a treasure chest box from the craft store pink, and I filled it with rings from the thrift store.  Rings, were one of The Banana's big request for this birthday.  She put on all the rings at once also, (there were many) and could barely open the rest of the presents because of all the bling!  The Banana truly appreciated each present.  She opened each one with an excited little gasp and a drawn out "aaaaaaaahh!"  

After a bit of playtime, we dropped Mr. SP off at his first day of preschool, and The Banana talked to everyone she could about how it was her birthday and how she got to eat breakfast in the bathtub.  While Mr. SP was off at school, we took the new doll for a walk in the doll stroller, which was very exciting for The Banana.

I made the Number Three shirt out of an old stained pink t-shirt and some material.  Like the quilt, it's crooked, very crooked.  But she loved showing everyone her number (we're still working on the idea that it's number three and not number six.  She'd really like to be six.)

I had ordered a pink dress up cloak for her birthday, which didn't arrive in enough time to wrap, but the mail lady did bring it this morning.  She rang the doorbell and The Banana ran to the door to tell her the package was probably for her since it was her birthday.  "Happy Birthday"  said the mail lady.  "What kind of birthday cake are you having?"  "PINK!"  screeched The Banana.  "Oooooooohhhh!"  said the Mail lady, a bit surprised.  (more on the cake in a minute). 

The princess cloak was perfect because it went with the crown I made her out of felt (which was also crooked, and too tall and almost too small, but still cute).  She flitted about in it and did some twirling.

She made nests with her cuddle things here and there, and loved how it all matched because everything was PINK.  

Another big birthday request from The Banana was a bunch of pink helium balloons.  Halfway through the day she remarked to me how she loved presents and loved the pink cake on the counter and her rings, but "I need balloons, Mama."  Lucky for her, Dr. Peds had plans to surprise h
er with a big bunch of balloons that he brought home special from work while she was napping.  The Banana was delighted down to her toes about the balloons.  

I was surprised, because when Ya Ya and Mr. SP were small and got balloons for their birthday, they bounced them up to the ceiling and jumped up and down and it was a boisterous festiva.  The Banana removed three pink balloons, one for herself and each of her siblings to jump around with and then insisted that I tie the rest of the balloons on her chair, because that's where they belonged.  There was one more pink balloon tied to a pink flamingo (named Pinkie) that she placed next to the sofa in the living room for "all the piano students to see."  Such ideas.  

Finally it was time for cake in the evening.  The Banana had been suggesting to people celebrating birthdays for months that they might like a pink cake.  No one really took her up on the idea, but she has had a specific pink cake mix box picked out in the grocery store for weeks.  We had to "visit" the box whenever we went to the store, and she was so excited to get to buy it and bring the mix home last week.  Ya Ya took one look at The Banana dragging the box all around the house and said, "I had a cake like that on my birthday one time.  It was AWFUL."  

This one was awful, too.  It smelled like strawberry toxic waste, but The Banana wasn't dissuaded by the smell or taste.  I didn't even try it . . . the smell was enough to ruin my appetite, and Dr. Peds remarked about how he felt like he'd just eaten a chemical factory after a couple of bites.  

Cake time was nearly disastrous.  I had the cake on the table.  I was getting my camera ready, and I told Dr. Peds to please light the candles.  Thinking he'd be silly, he came back with a large propane torch.  All three kidlets are scared spitless of that big propane torch, and he forgets it all the time.  Within seconds they were all running away from the table, wailing and crying and distraught, convinced he'd burn up the entire cake.  I scolded him and sent him back to get a candle lighter instead.  After consoling and calming everyone back down, we were able to finally proceed.