Susannah's 4th Birthday

Getting a head start on making the March birthday cakes, Susannah got to be the main helper and watcher when we mixed up her birthday cake, a Whacky Chocolate Cake, on the last day of February.

She got to lick the beater and smile her very excited smile for the camera, too. :)  Someone commented on the "bibs" I use for the girls to lick the big beater. It's a dish-towel and it works great! The wider beater always ends up getting stuff all over their shirt sleeves and the wideness of the towel helps catch those drips and smears.

For a very long time (late this past summer, I think, is when I started quizzing her from time to time) Susannah has specifically been requesting a butterfly birthday cake. For a while I thought she would change her mind, but she never did! I guess she knew what she wanted. :-)  As the time drew closer, she got more specific and requested FOUR butterflies on her birthday cake. Sometimes she would say she wanted other things (ladybugs, flowers, Tigger, Pooh, cats, etc.) on the cake with her butterflies, but butterflies were always the main thing.

Since I wasn't up to making an all-out zoo scene on her cake with all the critters and insects she mentioned, I stuck with the four butterflies. :-)  I looked through many pictures of butterflies trying to find one I liked but none really thrilled me. I ended up loosely following the butterfly that is on her shirt (in the top photo).

When it was time to color the frosting, she knew exactly what colors she wanted her butterflies to be: pink, purple, brown and yellow. When she started naming more than 2 colors I got a little nervous but she only had 4 colors. That worked out well and they went together nicely, too.

Several days before her birthday (which was on a Tuesday) I asked what she wanted for her birthday supper. Her immediate, and never changing, request was "nuggets and salad". How many four year olds request salad for part of their birthday meal? I'm not sure but I thought it was pretty mature of her and her tastebuds to know she likes salads enough to request one for her birthday supper!

I had an appointment the afternoon of her birthday, and we needed to get some groceries, so we went grocery shopping before the girls spent a couple hours at the babysitters house. While we were getting things from the produce section we passed the mushrooms. She asked if we could get mushrooms. I started to say "no, they don't have any on sale" but then I remembered her birthday salad. I asked if she meant for her birthday salad and with a big smile she affirmed my suspicion. I happily splurged and bought a small container of mushrooms to add to her birthday salad. It's the small things in life!

To round out the meal a little bit more, I also made a batch of cheesey noodles. I had originally planned to make roasted sweet and regular potatoes but my energy simply didn't last the whole day and I ended up exhausted and out of time. Since neither the potatoes or noodles were a part of her requested menu, I didn't feel badly doing what worked for me. My mother-in-law brought a fruit salad to add to the meal. It was a very yummy, very easy birthday meal.

I found a "4" candle in my cake decorating supplies box and Susannah asked if we could put it on her birthday cake along with four regular candles. She was one happy birthday girl!

I had a great gift in mind for some time and was thrilled to find it at a local store. It is a fold-up case with colored, wooden, magnetic shapes that stick to the insides of the case. It comes with a wide array of pattern cards to make all kinds of designs from the shapes (from people to cars to mugs of coffee to surfer men). She really likes it though she needs a little help knowing where to start on the design and getting some of the placement correct. I know with just a little more experience she will enjoy doing them by herself and that this is a "toy" that will last for a very long time.

Daniel wanted to get her something and he had a fantastic gift idea. He gave her a tube of pink, Wild Cherry Chapstick and a little box of orange Tic Tacs. Oh my, you would think he had handed her the moon!  I think instead of turning 4, that gift made her be 24!! She is very specific in her frequent "need" of "lipstick" and a mint. The Tic-Tacs have been everything from mints to pills to candy. She keeps both in her pocketbook and uses them regularly and faithfully! She shouldn't have any chapped lips (or cheeks ;-) ) or bad breath for a while!! She even kindly shares her "lipstick" with Sylvia and offers me some, too (I decline since I prefer the original).

It was a wonderful, enjoyable birthday celebrating the 4 years that God has given Susannah to our care. We love the smiles and cheer she brings to our family.

A few things about Susannah:

She sleeps with a whole menagerie of stuffed animals in her bed, a few of them extra special.

Since the time change she has been taking shorter naps, but sleeping later in the mornings. I am guessing that this is the year she may drop her afternoon naps. *sniff*

She can - and usually does - go potty all by herself for #1. We require her to ask for assistance if the visit is for #2, but it's a big help to us and helpful for her, too, that she can take care of most of her bathroom visits by herself.

She has really improved in her coloring skills. She colors specific areas now, and will color an entire picture instead of a few scribbles and being done.

She loves being a big sister. When we are in town or at church she takes her responsibility to hold Sylvia's hand in the parking lot very seriously (most of the time). Lately she's even asked if she can take Sylvia to her class at church (instead of me doing it). Knowing that my hands will soon be full(er) with our new baby, I am happy to let her gently guide Sylvia where she needs to go under my watchful eye.

She still sits beside Daniel at the table for meals and adores him. She scoots her chair right up against his and many times throughout a meal she will reach over and give his arm a big hug. Both of their main love languages is physical touch so it works well for them. :-)

She loves to sing and recently memorized Psalm 23 set to song. She pronounces "enemies" as "em-en-ies". :-) She has a few other words that she gets the pronunciation mixed up, but I enjoy hearing her say them that way and know that one day she will correct them and it will just mean she's getting older. I'm enjoying all of her little girl-hood as long as I can.

She asks to pray for every meal. In her prayers she always asks that God will keep Daddy "safe well", and in a rather jumbled together thought prays "thank you for the food that we died on the cross for our sins" and most times prays "help us to learn to obey". 

That's about all I can come up with today, though I know there is much, much more about our newly-turned-four Susannah that is specific to this time in her life. She is such a joy to us!!!