Pink Dog, Wild Animals and Three

If your'e following along with our family's pink dog saga, you may remember that J's favorite toy is Blue Dog. Blue Dog is Pink Dog's counterpart, and the way I remember it Blue Dog became J's favorite because Pink Dog was L's favorite and that's how sisters are. 

Still, as J has gotten older, she has clearly chosen pink as her favorite color. One night, as I was tucking her in bed with Blue Dog, she asked me, "Mommy, where is my pink dog?" I understood the philosophical ponderings of my two year old, because clearly her beloved dog should have been pink. Ah, the misfortunes of life. 

For this birthday we welcomed a new little pink dog into the family. She hasn't gotten an official name yet - I'll keep you posted. We also got another excellent game from Eeboo. I like this one a lot, and it was a good fit for J who isn't big on following rules.

We also had some wild animals to prepare us for our zoo trip, which we've all been jazzed about. The cake (brownie) wasn't too fancy, but I liked that each person got to choose which animals was on their slice. 

Celebrating Five

I love my kids' birthdays.  I try really hard to make it a whole day of celebration. I don't want the day to be lost in the presents you got, the ones you didn't get, or the struggle to share new toys. I don't want birthdays to be about the stuff they're going to get, but to be a celebration of who they are, what they mean to our family. As a parent, it is an opportunity to find deeper ways of showing them how loved they are. Here are some ways we emphasize celebration over gifts:

Decorations! We hang streamers or bunting, pick flowers, and use table cloths and set up games, so when the girls first wake up, they know today is special. I don't necessarily buy decorations, we mostly use our special occasion linens and buntings, but we do like to pick up a few fun party favors. I usually lay out special clothes for the kids, too, because they still love dress up.

Memories. We talk a bit in the morning about growing up and all of our old memories. This year I was glad to be able to pull out our family albums and show them pictures from each of their past birthdays, and we talked about the ways they have changed - getting taller, longer hair, learning new words, writing, etc.

Food! Of course there's the birthday cake, made in a silly shape. But, I also try to make a whole meal (or two meals) of special foods the girls like, or things we don't have often. This year, Lou requested sausage balls like we have at Christmas.

A meal. We had a little tea party this year, so the entire meal felt like a special event. We ate finger foods, and had chocolate milk in our teapot and tea cups. John and I drank our coffee in little child size tea cups, too - which added another layer of fun. We also used our best (silliest) polite voices and everyone helped everyone get their food (rather than me fixing their plates). We eat together most days, so it is important to make this meal feel different than our usual family dinner.

Games! Kids love to play games, but more importantly, they love to play with us! So we spent the day playing together. I made a hopscotch game on the floor using painter's tape. John and I had to google the rules, and we had an awesome time learning and teaching it to the kids. This has become one of my favorite parts of birthdays - a whole day that I give them my attention and play with them without being distracted by all of the other things I need to do.

Presents. Of course, there still are a few presents. Not very many, but we spent much of the day playing with the presents with the kids. The joy wasn't so much about the thrill of opening too many packages but enjoying learning new games, playing pretend, and reading new books together. (Here the girls and I played with eeboo's awesome Tell Me a Story card game.)

L's one birthday present request was that mommy make her another dog.

Family. Our family lives far away, so its special to get to speak to so many of them on birthdays, to know that this is a day when people remember you and love you.

How do you celebrate little birthdays? How do you de-emphasize stuff and emphasize love?

Pink Dog: revisited

Recently, L had taken Pink Dog out in public and was introducing her to some lucky passerby.

I mentioned before my slight embarrassment and jealousy of the cheesy store bought dog that my daughter prizes*, and how I was learning to love it because she does.

But then, I heard L say, "This is Pink Dog.  Mommy made it for my birthday."

This dog was given to her on a regular day by one of John's sweet co-workers - so it had nothing to do with me or her birthday. But, perhaps in the same way I love her dog because I love her, she thinks I made it because she loves me. Maybe it's silly, but man, that made me happy.

Anyway - I explained that Ms. Sherry gave that to her, and that it was from a store, which she seemed to take in stride.  But the game is on now - I'm embracing the totally excessive number of dogs we have to make a few more for Christmas.  Look for the pattern later this week...

*To be totally fair, there is some talk that Gray Dog is edging out Pink Dog these days. Only time will tell.

Pink Dog: a toymaker's confession

Of all my daugther's toys, many handmade and specially designed for her, made from my favorite fabrics and cute little trims - this is her favorite toy.

Pink Dog

She loves all the animals and dolls I've made her, in all seriousness.  But this is the one she carries around, takes to the grocery store, and snuggles with at night.  This pink and white dog, given by a kind co-worker and promptly named Pink Dog.  Sigh.  I can admit it.

I'm jealous.

I wish she loved one of my toys the best.  Yet, it isn't just Pink Dog, L has somehow developed a bit of a dog collection.  It started with John's hand-me-down Bernard.  But it really began when we saw some dog movies: Milo and Otis, Mist, and, well, okay, Hotel for Dogs, and she was given Pink Dog.  Later, when I was sick John got them each a sheep dog from the drug store (each named for the movie: Mist).  Then another co-worker gave them dogs. And there were yard sales, bribery, and grandparents involved.  Now her dog collection looks like this:

Top Row: Coffee Mug, Black and White Dog, Bernard, Pink Dog, Mist, Baby Blue Dog;
Bottom Row: Teacup, Clifford, Grey and White Dog, Hound Dog, Coffee, Biscuit)

At one point, I thought I would just have to design the perfect dog to trump all other dogs.  But now I realize there are too many kinds of dogs, and she's too invested in the community of dogs, and Pink Dog in particular.  We've had dog birthday parties, and made Dog Hotels.  There was the official Dog Meeting, and many dog bedtime stories.  They each have names (some cute, some unconventionally descriptive) and special memories.  I don't love the idea of her collecting every cute factory-made dog in the world, or collecting anything at this age.  But here we are.  It's too late.  She loves them.

And now I do, too.

Because every day I see how fiercely she remembers and cares for them.  You may have to teach children how to talk kindly, share toys, and ask nicely.  But you don't have to teach them how to love.  It will need some guiding and expanding over the years, I'm sure.  But the urge is already there, and that's a beautiful thing.

NOW.  Let me introduce you to J's favorite toy.  She calls her Pink Dog.

J's Pink Dog