10

Violet turned 10 today.  She's been so excited about her birthday for so long, even though there's so little we could do to celebrate.  We couldn't give her a birthday party with her friends or take her to her favorite restaurant for a birthday meal.  But Violet was so understanding and appreciative of what she was able to have.  She is old enough to realize the seriousness of the situation but young enough to find joy in the little things.

One of her favorite special occasion restaurant meals is fondue.  The local fondue place is insanely expensive, so we only go for the kids' birthdays.  Since all restaurants are closed for sit-in dining, I borrowed fondue pots from a friend and we had fondue at home.  I didn't tell her we were doing it, and she was so surprised and thrilled.  She kept thanking me and gushing over how good everything was.  It was surprisingly easy, and the kids kept saying it was actually better than the restaurant because there was more of everything.  It's so much fun when the things we do for our kids are received as enthusiastically as we hoped.

This quarantine has introduced us to the wonders of virtual meetings, and we used our newfound capabilities to allow Violet's favorite friends and her family to call in to sing her Happy Birthday while she blew out her candles.  I'll be honest, the conferencing was a bit of a mess and probably better done with distinctly separate circles.  Tom's side of the family called in at the same time as her friends, and it was weird having conversations with them that everyone else could hear.  Lessons learned, although hopefully we won't ever have to repeat this experience again.

In honor of my sweet girl, I figured I'd finally publish this post I'd started last year that I never got around to finishing.

March 29, 2019

Violet is the kindest child. She recently had a birthday party where she wanted to invite this one boy who would have been the only boy and only child who doesn't go to her school.  It's a testament to the strength of their friendship that he would want to attend this party anyway.  But at the party itself, Violet was sitting between two of her girlfriends, having fun.  But she noticed the boy across from her, and she just said, "I'm going to sit over there."  And she sat next to her friend who didn't know anyone else, and everyone had a great time.  No one thought anything of it, because everyone else knew each other.  But I was so touched that she noticed and she did something about it.

On my birthday, Jack had a baseball tournament that I brought him to early.  Violet came later with her dad.  She walked up to me and handed me a card that she had clearly made herself .  It read:

Dear Mommy,
   Happy birthday! We hope you have a great birthday! You are the Best Mom ever! You are AWESOME!!!

Love,

Jack & Violet

There was a cute drawing next to it.

"Jack" was signed the way that Jack always signs his name, so I assumed that he had signed it.  Later that day, I found out that Violet had created the entire card herself, including signing Jack's name to it in exactly the way that he would have signed it.  I was so touched that she had written the card with "we" and signed it - with Jack's name first!

Even when they bicker and I feel that Jack is clearly baiting her, Violet has the most beautiful spin on things.  Just this past week, in the car, they were bickering and then I heard Jack ask Violet, in a way that was clearly meant to tease her: "Violet, do you wish that you ever had another big brother?"

Violet: No!

Jack: Why not?

V: Because you're the best big brother ever!

J: Do you ever wish you had a little brother?

V: No!

J: Why not?

V: Because you're the best brother ever!

J: Do you ever wish you ever had a big sister?

V: No!

J: Why not?

V: Because you're the best big sibling ever!

J: Do you ever wish you ever had a little sister?

V: No!

J: Why not?

V: Because you're the best sibling ever!

Prior to this conversation, they were quarreling about some silly thing, and yet this is how she responded to something he was obviously (to me) trying to instigate with her.

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Happy birthday, Violet!  We can't wait to give you the birthday party you deserve once we are on the other side of this.