Carly Turns Six!

Thursday was Carly’s sixth birthday. We knew we had a busy evening and wouldn’t be able to celebrate after school so Justin stayed home that morning so we could all eat breakfast together. Before we could do anything though Carly had to open up the box my Mom sent her last week. It was the perfect gift for our crafty-loving Carly. Lots of scissors that cut fun patterns, foam paper, and glitter glue.

It took less than a minute for her to have the kitchen table covered with her new supplies.

Whose idea was it to put chocolate chips in the pancakes??

The rest of the day was pretty ordinary. She wanted to take something into her class for her birthday, but her teacher doesn’t let the kids bring in any food. I was having a hard time coming up with something to hand out. Carly suggested pencils so being the cheapskate that I am we rummaged through our stash and came up with enough unsharpened pencils for everyone. Sad, I know, but why in the world would I buy pencils when we have plenty to spare?

We had her birthday party yesterday after school. I’ve known what I wanted to do for her party for several months. There’s a little yellow house on one of the main streets in town that we pass all the time that does ceramics. I checked it out a few weeks ago and knew it would be something Carly would love to do. We invited five friends to join us (plus two cousins and a sister). They were each able to pick out a small figurine to paint. It was interesting to see who was very detailed oriented (Abigail could have painted for hours) and which kids just slapped on the paint and called it good. We’re excited to see the final results after they get fired in the kiln. All the kids seemed to have a great time.

Afterward we came back to our house to open presents and have cake & ice-cream. Carly was so excited to choose the kind of birthday cake she wanted. She changed her mind several times, but that morning she settled on a butterfly cake. She chose the colors as well and insisted on black antennas.

It was an easy party to pull off which is exactly what I needed, but most importantly Carly had a blast and felt very special on her special day.

Few tidbits about Carly at six:

As mentioned she loves to be crafty. She loves it when I have scraps of cardstock for her to use. She pieces things together into fun designs. Recently Abigail even asked Carly to give her craft lessons. She’s very artistic and never says she’s bored – she’s always got something she wants to create. It seems we never have a meal in which Carly doesn’t have to clear off the kitchen table beforehand.

In the last few weeks Carly has started writing stories. I love this stage of development. She still asks for help with some spelling, but I love seeing her ideas written on paper.

Carly has a split personality when it comes to social situations.

Personality #1: She is very outgoing around people she knows. She is very friendly and gets along easily with others. Sadly though she has very few friends her age, but it’s not that she’s a loner. I asked her teacher who she hangs out with at recess and she told me she’s basically a floater. She plays with everyone (boy, girl, doesn’t matter). Nobody at her birthday party was her age – her friends are either older or younger than her. Thankfully she has a great big sister who includes her with all of her friends and Carly seems to fit in just fine.

Personality #2: Carly is very shy. She still hesitates to participate in church when she’s called on. She doesn’t like to be put on the spot and often shies from attention. Just singing Happy Birthday to her yesterday had her slumped down in her chair where I could hardly see her.

It must have been over a year ago that I was having a conversation with some friends about how our kids handle conflict. When it came to Carly nobody (including myself) could imagine her getting mad at someone. It’s not that she wasn’t sensitive, because she was (and is), but it would have been so unlike her to defend herself. Totally not the case now. She speaks her mind. She has strong opinions. And she’ll let them be known.

Carly loves to shower (while her older sister doesn’t) and she always wants to blow dry her hair. But she’s definitely not a high maintenance girl. There are many days as we walk to the bus stop that I notice we never even combed her hair and her clothes don’t match.

Carly knows how to push Jason’s buttons, but she does pay the price sometimes. Jason isn’t a hitter or biter, but he has (on more than one occasion) pulled Carly’s hair. She is very loving to her little brother though and is a big helper to her Mom.

We recently got a piano and if Carly isn’t crafting she’s playing the piano. We’re not going to be able to hold off piano lessons for her too much longer. The interest is definitely there and it’s amazing what she’s picked up just from watching Abigail.

Carly is SUPER excited about having a baby in our house. She plays at a friend’s house that recently had twins and she LOVES to hold them. Recently she was mentioning that she wants to help feed our baby, but she pointed out that I would need to feed (nurse) her when she’s really little. I told her that was true, but that I’m sure there would be times when we could give the baby a bottle. She then told me that I should probably be the one to give the baby a bottle so I could get used to it. Apparently, she’s the pro and I’m the one who needs some practice.

Happy Birthday Carly – you bring so much sugar and spice into our home! We love you!