I don’t think I could ever say we have had a perfect day. But Rick & I cannot believe how perfect Sophie’s birthday went yesterday. We thought we were in an alternate reality!
We started the day an hour later than usual; for some reason all three of us did not sleep well the night before, so there was a lot of tossing & turning. Sophie awoke at close to 7am instead of 6. I had decided on Friday to play the day by ear because planning an outing would mean Sophie would be missing her scheduled naps, and I figured her birthday would not be fun for her if we lugged a cranky baby to the zoo.
But despite the late start, the first part of the morning went rather smoothly. She was in a very good mood, so I dressed her in her finest dress (a silk dress from Vietnam I bought at the ByWard Market in Ottawa when I was newly pregnant with her last year) and sat her at the table to open her presents. That proved to be rather entertaining for her (even if we had to coax her past the tissue paper & wrapping to actually get to the good stuff, which she promptly examined, then started throwing on a pile on the floor, then went back to playing with the wrappings. HA! Babies…), so we decided to have breakfast & go to the zoo, fingers crossed.
As I was getting her dressed to go to the zoo, I talked to Sophie about her special day. “Do you know today is your birthday?” Stares at me intently. “You’re one year old today. Last year at this time, we were in the hospital. Do you remember that? When you were born?” Looks at me thoughtfully. “Do you remember being born? And coming home for the first time?” Whp knows what she was thinking, but I’d like to think there was some recollection, or some understanding of the importance of the day. Rick even remarked how calm and content she seemed all day. It was her special day, and she seemed to know it.
Our children’s birthdays are so special for mamas too (and papas, but I can only comment from the mama perspective). I think the first is particularly special, since it makes one year of being this child’s mother. Birth is something so special that only us women can experience. I got through the day without locking myself in the bathroom and crying…lol. Just a few swelled-with-tears eyes filled with pride when she opened her presents. Hard to believe this time last year, Sept. 21st, we brought home this little 6 lb., helpless infant. Now only a year later, I swear you can’t stop her! :)
The drive up to the zoo took place during her first nap time, and she slept for only 30mins. of it, which concerned me (it’s about an hour and a half to Granby). She did start to fuss a bit just as we were arriving, she had enough sitting restrained in her car seat. I put her in the sling as I didn’t think she could see much in the stroller. Still, we brought it with us just in case.
Rick & I were pleasantly surprised how much she enjoyed the animals! The exhibits are large (thank goodness, I always wonder with zoos if we are doing the animals justice or harm, particularly the ones not from this climate) so I had to point out the animals at times but once she saw them she was absolutely intrigued & delighted by them. I got a bit of video of some of the animals & you can hear Sophie laughing with excited glee in the background.
We stopped about half-way through so Sophie could have something to eat. We kicked ourselves for not bringing a picnic lunch; the zoo had many nice picnic areas and the food there, although sounded tasty, was…too greasy than we could stomach in one sitting.
So we got 90% through all the exhibits when Sophie got really squirmy in the wrap. So I put her in her stroller with her hat to block out the sun and she slowly started to go to sleep. We were so impressed that she made it that far, seeing how she missed her naps, and even more impressed that she started to sleep without a fuss! On the way out we decided to stop at the gift shop, but there was no way to fit the stroller through the gated opening. A worker explained to us, “pas de pousette dans la magasin” which we thought was a stupid rule for a gift shop at a zoo. I hope to God they let wheelchairs in (although I am not sure how) otherwise that would be called discrimination. Anyway, if Sophie wasn’t going to sleep I would have just folded up the stroller but since she was…I guess we don’t get to spend our money there, which was probably a good thing anyway: who needs over priced beanie babies? ;)
Much to my elation she remained asleep as I put her in her car seat and slept most of the way home so at least she had a full afternoon nap.
Even though we thought the day couldn’t be topped, the real fun seemed to take place after supper. We presented Sophie with her birthday “cake”: a perfect scoop of blackberry sorbet with one beeswax candle. I am so pleased I found this sorbet at the organic grocery store. It contains all of 4 ingredients: blackberries, water, apple juice & carob. Carob is the only ingredient Sophie hadn’t had, so this satisfied the no sugar no gluten thing plus we didn’t have to be concerned about introducing several new things to her system at once.
But to SEE her with it…I will post pictures soon…they are so worth seeing. She had her hands in it before I had the chance to strip her down…and once we did…let the blackberry carnage begin! We let her get her hands all through it at first, then I handed her a spoon. The thickness of the sorbet made it the perfect food to practice using a spoon on. I was quite amazed at how well she did with the spoon: we never showed her before. First she tried it with her right hand, then switched to her left. She had much better control with the left hand. We have been wondering if she’ll be left or right handed…hmmmm…
Anyway, when she was done, everything was pink. I had to stick her in the bath after that. I was a little worried about her sleep considering she didn’t nap as scheduled, she had sugar before bed (albeit natural sugars but sugar nonetheless) and a bath (we usually give her baths in the day now as it ramps her up too much at night). She did really well though, was a little restless at around 3am but after a bit of tossing & turning and soothing words from me, she went right back to sleep. And slept until close to 7am again. :D
So today she was slightly hyper which I guess can be expected after long car rides yesterday. We are relived to see she seems to adjust well now to sleep as we are hoping to make a trip to Syracuse before the snow flies. *WAH*!
Happy Autumn Equinox everyone. Now that is a season to be thoroughly enjoyed. :)
"For me, life is not so much about taking the road less travelled, it's about finding the route that suits me best."
