Seventh Birthday

Amalie turned seven a few days ago. It almost seems like she has a birthday every year!

It was a regular school day, but she brightened her classmates' day by providing the makings for throw pillows, a technique she learned in Girl Scouts. Amie picked out swatches of felt, took them to school to let her fellow students pick their favorites, and brought everything home, labeled. Val then spent a long night cutting the swatch edges into strips so they could be tied together. Finally, everything went back to class, and the kids tied and stuffed their pillows. It was quite a lot of work, but everyone enjoyed it.

Val, still on furlough, picked Amie up on her birthday and took her and Carson to a park -- I was still retrieving her new bicycle from where we'd hidden it (at a friend's house). I got home, parked the bike on the back deck, and then scattered Amie's other gifts around the house. Unlike past years, where they were just lying about in plain sight, Val and I thought she was now old enough for a real scavenger hunt. So I wrote up a bunch of clues -- easy to figure out, but she had to do the reading and the reasoning -- including one very easy word puzzle. Amalie loved this approach, and picked up on it quickly -- get a clue, read it, solve it, and then dash away through the house, Carson at her heels to join in the fun. (And she wasn't allowed to collect a present until she had solved its clue, even if she spotted it early.)

Sherlock Amalie, world's greatest kid detective, solves a clue.

Amie had quickly, and enthusiastically, gathered her presents and was ready for the last clue. It led her to the back deck, where she quickly spotted and grabbed a wrapped gift -- obviously a DVD movie -- which was sitting on the seat of the new bike. Holding her treasure aloft, she did a little dance, oblivious to the bike, until Carson mentioned it to her. The penny dropped, along with her jaw, as she took in her biggest present and the one she incredibly had missed.

Oh yeah -- a bike!

The hoard gathered, the unwrapping commenced, always a joyful orgy of chaos and rending. Carson knows his birthday is but weeks away, but it's hard for a sibling to only watch from the sidelines, and Amalie graciously let him open three presents, which he attacked with gusto.

Some arts & crafts things, a painting kit, a PixOs set she had wanted since before Christmas, a Girl Scouts shirt, some books, a movie, new soccer socks and shinguards, and a Barbie, among other things. Amalie was plentifully satisfied.

Presents!

And then it was on to the cake. I had baked Amie's hand-picked selection the night before, but it needed frosting. We mixed up a batch, and I began icing the cake per Amie's long-planned specifications -- white on the sides, sky blue over the top. Both children got enough samples that a second, small batch had to be mixed before the cake was finished, but we got there. Amie had also wanted a rainbow on the cake, and despite my assurances that it would happen, she was getting worried -- there was no more frosting! I pulled out my secret ace -- a six-color pack of nonpareils, little dot sprinkles. Unfortunately, the first test spot showed they didn't stick to the frosting worth a damn; fortunately, Val hit on a solution immediately. We pulled out a sheet of wax paper and cut out an arc. Using this as a template, I was able to get the nonpareils to more or less stay in place, and the rainbow was formed -- red, orange, yellow, green, purple, and pink on top, since it was Amalie's cake, after all. It turned out rather nice.

Birthday rainbow.

Dinner followed, and then the traditional songmaking and blowing out of the candles, a job for which Amie's lungs are well-suited. We each had a piece of cake, and the kids then demolished it with small seconds and thirds and samplings of frosting. It didn't look very nice after that, but still tasted great.

Amalie pointed out she had a loose tooth, which fell out on Sunday, February 1st.