Gimme Five

Today, Olive decided to turn five. And by "decided," I absolutely mean "decided," because for the last few months, she was determined that this day was NOT going to come. She said, repeatedly, that she didn’t want to grow up, was not going to grow up, would not turn five, would stay four forever, and would never again have a birthday or birthday presents or a birthday party, but a "no reason" party with presents might be acceptable, etc..

I think most kids go through a stage here and there where they say they want to be a baby or they don’t want to grow up or whatever. I know I did, and I can remember being about six and just crying in my bed about it. But I got over it. Mostly, anyway. But Miss Olive? I really wasn’t so sure she would. This "stage" was more like a regular series (usually at bedtime) of utter meltdowns, triggered by such innocuous things as saying "Maybe we can get that (usually a horse) for your birthday" or "How was (classmate’s) birthday circle today?" or "Look! That cat on TV is giving birth to kittens." She would get so beside herself, it was pitiful. And when we could finally get to the bottom of it all, she would cling to me saying it was because she doesn’t ever want to leave us. Breaks. My. Heart.

I tried everything to talk her down – Who said you have to leave? You can stay here forever – we’d love for you to stay forever. You don’t have to grow up all in one night, just a little at a time. Think of all the things you can do when you’re bigger. Think of all the things you can do now that you couldn’t do when you were a baby. Yada, yada, yada. But nothing worked. She would finally wear herself out and fall back on the bed, sniffling and spent. And then she was fine. Until the next time.

Determined, as always, to plan a most magical birthday, I floated out different ideas to her, but if it involved, you know, a party, with a cake, and people – God forbid – singing to her, she wasn’t having any of it. Because she wasn’t having a birthday and wasn’t turning five and was staying four forever and on and on again. FINALLY, we saw the preview for a little movie you may have heard of called Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I suggested we go see it and maybe invite a couple of friends and maybe have lunch afterwards and maybe a cupcake or something. And she went for it. As long as everyone understood this was NOT a birthday party. OK. A few days later, during another small scale anti-aging meltdown, I casually mentioned that the various stables near our house have a rule that you have to be six to take riding lessons and wouldn’t that be so fun and something to look forward to and all that. I kid you not, the next morning at breakfast:

Olive: Mommy, how many more days till my birthday?
LT: 17.
Olive: Yes! And then I’ll be five and then I’ll be six and then I can take riding lessons! And then I’ll be eight and I can go on the trailride! And then I’ll be ten, and …
LT: Hold it! Let’s just enjoy being five first. Mommy can’t handle any more than that.

And so today, we pulled off what has been called "the best birthday I ever had." We started with the traditional tiny birthday cake in bed, followed by the traditional birthday circle at GGMS (where the bday child picks a friend to hold a lit candle (the sun), and the bday kid (the Earth) walks around the candle the number of years they've been alive - how cool is that). After school and dance classes, we had the traditional dinner at the restaurant of Olive's choice (Chuy's, natch), followed by the traditional birthday cake and ice cream, birthday presents, and much-beloved treasure hunt around the house. T-Bone is a genius when it comes to making up the clues, and Peach and Olive are so cute, tearing around from room to room, with me bringing up the rear with the video camera, trying not to kill myself. The last clue leads to the Big Present, which was a horse music box filled with new play jewelry. Olive loooooved it. She put on all the jewelry, cranked the music, and just stared at herself in the tiny mirror, while whispering, "This is the best birthday I ever had. I will remember it forever. Every time I look in this mirror, I will remember this day. Thank you, Mommy. I love you." And on and on and on. And yes, I caught it all on tape.

It was a great day. And I will remember it forever. Thank you, Olive. I love you.