Six

Our oldest, Amalie, turns six today. It's just hard to believe, despite the extremely live evidence before us. A mere six years ago, this li'l baby entered our lives and made everything that much better and more engaging.

She distributed cupcakes to her kindergarten class last Friday, her choice, as a way of giving everyone a special sendoff into the weekend. Her school has an unofficial policy that store-bought are preferred to homemade -- which struck me as a bit odd, but no matter. We procured two dozen chocolate cupcakes (with various colors of frosting, applied in the "huge swirly glob" method) at our local supermarket, and they were met with strong approval. There were even a few leftover, so the calories were available at home until Saturday. (I had hardly a nibble.)

Sunday, she got one present early, a gift card to Build-A-Bear. Val took Amie and Carson to the store, giving me a window to wrap her other presents (which I did). When they finally got home, Amie had a polka-dotted puppy with a host of accouterments, the total cost of which went well beyond the gift card's preset amount. No matter; she turns six but once.

And tonight, after school and gymnastics, she gets her big deal, the home celebration. I have to go bake a cake later, but the highlight is the present hunt. We have a young tradition of scattering (not hiding) presents around the house on birthdays, and the guest of honor has to go forth and find them all. Tonight there will be nine gifts, wrapped in purple Tinkerbell paper, for Amie to find, along with a big present that will be simply under a blanket.

We had intended to get her this thing, a Plan Toys chalet dollhouse, for Christmas, but it simply was not to be found for a reasonable price plus shipping -- so we got her a smaller, still nifty model instead, and decided to postpone the chalet for her birthday. However, when January rolled around, it still wasn't to be found, so I rummaged through Craig's List and, voila, there was one being sold for a reasonable price, and in south Austin. Turns out another couple had gotten the chalet (which comes with furniture, quite a boon) for their 2 1/2 year old for Christmas, but he just hadn't taken to it, so they offered it at a tiny discount from retail. I dropped by to check it out -- they live barely a mile and a half away -- and it was ideal, already assembled, essentially new. I gladly handed over the cash, they were happy, I was happy, and tonight Amalie gets to go nuts over it.

Six. And Carson reaches three in just two weeks. Yes, they really do grow up so fast.