Londyn turns 5!

Londyn had a fantastic birthday yesterday!  She reveled in the fact that it was her special day.  I even heard her tell Jacey “Mom will always say yes to me today, because I’m the birthday girl.”  She’s right though – there wasn’t much she asked for that we didn’t accommodate.  Granted, she didn’t ask for much.

Londyn’s birthday has a way of sneaking up on me.  I wanted to make this birthday special since last year was kind of chaotic.  Unfortunately, our lives have kind of flipped upside down these last few weeks, since we sold our house last week and are in the middle of packing and moving.  (More on that later.)

Londyn had been talking about having a party at Chuck E. Cheese, and I decided to encourage that since our house is in disarray, and my free time has been eaten up with packing.  We invited her cousins to join us and it turned out to be a pretty great birthday.  Which kind of humbled me and reminded me that a successful birthday for my children has very little to do with how cute I make the invitations or how many hours I spend making a cake.  Londyn was in heaven with her store-bought Tangled cake and the full attention of Chuck E. Cheese himself. 

(Pardon the messy faces and unedited pictures.)

Londyn also had her 5-year well child visit this morning.  I was surprised to hear the Dr. say that she may need glasses within the next year or so.  Other than that, she is doing awesome.  He asked me what concerns I had for her and I honestly couldn’t think of anything.  In the past, this is the part of the appointment when I would bring up the parenting challenges I was having with Londyn, and how I couldn’t figure out a discipline method that works for her.  But I am pleased to say that life with Londyn has been pretty nice lately.  I’m not sure what has changed, maybe a little more maturity, or maybe a little more patience from her parents.  But whatever it is, she is pretty delightful these days. 

A few observations of Londyn at 5:

Londyn is a great helper with Calvin, and they are pretty good buds.  She loves to put on music and see him dance.  He loves to play chase with her. 

She is loving being back in preschool.  Which is making it even harder for me to decide if I’m going to leave her in and drive her down, or pull her out when we move.

Londyn is in a major phase right now of playing with action figure type toys for HOURS and HOURS.  I honestly can’t tell if she prefers to have Jacey there or if she’d rather play alone.  She’s pretty content to play by herself.  Listening in on her can be pretty amusing.

We had a ward activity on Saturday and Londyn’s primary teacher came over and talked to me for a while.  She was telling me how much she was going to miss having Londyn in class – that she is always reverent and well behaved.  I can’t tell you how much exchanges like that mean to me as a mother. 

I’ve caught Londyn teaching herself to read.  She’s started writing “notes” that actually resemble real words, which tells me she’s trying to sound things out.  And every once in a while she’ll just read a random word.  I’ll say “How did you know what that said?”  And she’ll say “I just looked at the letters.”  I have done absolutely zero teaching her how to read, so I assume she’s teaching herself.   It makes me a little sad, since I know she would have been ready for Kindergarten this year if only she hadn’t missed the deadline by 12 lousy days.  I’m hoping that once the dust from this move settles I can work with her a little bit more.

And finally, a little observation of what is going on around me as I write this post.  Londyn is dancing in the living room with the giant Chuck E. Cheese mylar balloon that came home with us last night, singing a made-up song.  “Oh Chuck E., you’re my prince.  Who is the Chuck E. Cheesiest?  Chuck E!”

I love her imagination.  I love being her mom.