Fiona is 4

Once upon a time, after a long and fairly traumatic labor, the loveliest baby was born.

















And now that baby is four years old. FOUR.

Four.

My brain can't quite adjust to that fact, so I won't dwell on it.

For the last month (at least) every morning she has asked us if it's her birthday yet, and why her birthday takes SO LONG! You can imagine her joy that today was the day.

We began the day with some presents and then Ben went off to work and we had pancakes.

Then after pancakes came brownie making.

After pancakes and brownie making came baths. Anything involving chocolate and syrup is pretty much guaranteed to lead to a bath.

Then we headed to the library with some awesome friends. Fiona's friends Annabelle and baby Penelope have been out of town for a couple of weeks so it was great to see them.

Adele enjoyed this Garfield book.

Library was followed by lunch at target. Then we braved the downpour and sprinted to the car to head home so Adele could take a nap and Fiona could work on one of her presents - a paint-your-own piggybank.

Masterpiece!!

We also chatted with Granny and Grandpa and Aunty Ali on Skype, which was fun.

After that Adele got up and we headed off to our second social engagement of the day.

Another favorite baby friend - Ethan.With favorite adult friend Tanya.
















We brought some cookies and the aforementioned brownies and my super talented friend Gena and Fiona's friend Aubrey made these awesome martini cookies! (Does not contain actual martini.)

THEN we headed home for birthday Pizza and... CUPCAKES!! All Fiona wanted for dinner was cupcakes so after declaring she was done after a few little pizza bites I gave up and we lit the candles.

Yum.

Yum.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.


















Then a few more presents, and a couple of scooby doo episodes before off to bed.

I don't know about Fiona but I am completely exhausted!

I feel so lucky to get to spend time with this little girl who seems to be growing up so fast. She is smart and quick and kind and loving.

Here's a story. The four of us went for a walk together a week or so ago and decided to stop on the way home and share an ice cream cone, one of Fiona's favorite things (can you tell the girl is a bit of a sugar fan?). After we got there we discovered that Ben had forgotten his wallet and I had not brought mine. Fiona thought it was funny at first in an "oh, silly Daddy" kind of way until it dawned on her that this meant no ice cream, at which point she burst into tears. A very, very kind person, seeing how upset she was, gave us $2 to get her some ice cream, and she was very happy and grateful. On the way home, while licking the strawberry cone that she chose, and shared with Adele, she told us that next time Daddy should be sure to bring his wallet so that we can give $2 to someone else who forgot theirs so they can have ice cream too.

And that's the Fiona I love so much. The part that walks backwards singing "Peppa Pig" to encourage Adele to get from A to B with her walker. The part that cheers for her when she arrives. The part that wants to help and share and learn and is so excited about new things, and really disgusting things and things in general, like looking up different kinds of dogs and spiders and snakes and dinosaurs and baby birds hatching out of eggs on the internet. That's the Fiona I love to snuggle with. Happy Birthday my sweet big four year old girl.