Not 4 1/2 anymore!

Elise wrote birthday messages
on Naomi's chair balloons.

Four and a half rolls off the tongue so nicely when you're four and a half. Because when you're four and a half, you know exactly how much that half year counts. "When I was only four..." Naomi might say, beginning an anecdote about how juvenile she used to be. And in all fairness, she's right: When you're four and a half, that extra half year amounts to a full 10th of your life. That's significant.

Which is maybe why Naomi handled her transition to age 5 with such solemnity. After all, if you've been four and a half for all of your mature life, what will 5 be like? Another leap, like the leap from four to four and a half? Or a smooth continuum of the big-girl life to which you've grown accustomed? Or is it a actually more of a step back, since you don't get to add that all-important "and-a-half" to your age?

What's a birthday without sisters?
Not much!!!

All this seemed to weight heavily on Naomi as she breezed through her birthday morning, rejecting her birthday bunny dress because it's "too big" (it's not), enjoying chocolate Lucky Charms for breakfast (birthday cereal, which we only buy three times a year, thank goodness, and rarely finish--but don't tell the girls that) and unwrapping a few gifts.

The awesome playmat for
Naomi's bunnies Elise
put together.

Her sisters outdid themselves this year--they adore doting on their little sister. Kalina picked out a mommy and baby puppy from Target (Naomi's favorite place for stuffies) and created a treasure hunt for Naomi to find the littler puppy. Elise spent many evening and quiettime hours piecing together a bunny playmat for Naomi out of felt (guess who else donated time to that project!). Naomi felt loved, and I was proud of my big girls for their gifts from the heart.

Then we whisked Naomi off for her big birthday gift from Daddy and Mommy: the trip to Build-a-Bear she's been asking for pretty much ever since the last one. Naomi quietly put on her shoes and hopped in the car, not cracking a smile but excited all the same.

If you look closely, you can
see the purple sparkly shoes.

We entered the store and the salesperson gave her a special birthday sticker upon arrival. We found, to my relief, the bunny she'd had her eye on two weeks ago when we visited just to look. Naomi later assured me she would've been just fine with any number of animals, but considering "I'm fine" isn't always in Naomi's vocabulary, I was still relieved. We stuffed the bunny and brushed it, picked out clothes (and shoes, and a headband, thank you big sisters), and then worked on a name, which took a surprising number of suggestions considering usually Lily or Bella will do. She settled on Hope, though, which really is a better name.

Then Naomi got to ring the birthday bell and have her picture taken with a special cake prop. I have to give BAB credit for making her day special--and even better, we even got her to smile! Then someone suggested the merry-go-round, and how could I say no? Naomi and I spun in a teacup, while Elise rode a dolphin and Kalina picked a rabbit beside her in honor of Naomi.

Despite fun presents that she definitely enjoyed, and possibly partly because she had to tag along to piano lessons, Naomi didn't get her big burst of energy until right before dinner, when Grandpa arrived. She spent the rest of the day being downright crazy--in the pizza restaurant, at home, you name it! But she enjoyed her pizza and breadsticks, cake and even more presents, even cheering for a couple she'd been extra-specially hoping for. I admit it was nice to see some enthusiasm!

Naomi and friends!

Since I'm a sucker for sweet little parties, I let Naomi have a friends birthday the Saturday after her birthday. In truth, I was also gratified that she had friends to invite. With her love of bunnies, she settled on a woodland animal theme, heavy on the bunnies ("Can I have my bunny now? How about now?"). I stocked up on supplies, thanks in large part to Oriental Trading's Easter section, and we invited a crowd. Of which nearly half were "maybes." And then one family arrived 20 minutes early, having to knock extra loudly because I was still vacuuming.


Me, planning the party: Naomi, after the craft, we'll play some games!
Naomi: What, like, Candyland?

Adopt-A-Bunny with Kalina
drumming up enthusiasm!

Kalina and Elise provided fantastic support to the party effort by blowing up balloons, cleaning, decorating, tearing endless pieces of tape, fetching, arranging, suggesting and so much more. But their most valuable efforts came during the party, when Kalina jumped immediately to help anyone, anywhere, who needed help, and Elise frequently volunteered to choose or go last so all the guests could have exactly what they wanted. They totally earned their cupcakes, many times over.

None of the maybes showed up, but we had a great time with our six guests. Naomi enjoyed seeing her friends and "adopting" a bunny. We made collars out of beads, played pin-the-tail-on-the-Easter-bunny and did a woodland animal walk (a variation on our famous rainbow walk, which the girls will never forget). Everyone enjoyed woodland berries and "twigs" (pretzel sticks), plus cute pink and purple cupcakes that I totally lucked into, as I'd forgotten to order them and had to simply stop at a store on my way home from a meeting this morning.

Naomi pinned the tail on
the bunny...just not quite at
the right spot!

Naomi then dove into her gifts, barely pausing to actually look at the presents. Details, right? On the other hand, she expertly handled opening a Mousetrap game, knowing full well we have the same thing in our basement. In fact, Mousetrap carried us out to the end of the party.

Cake, craft, decorations, goody boxes:
it's officially a party!

The only surprise was that the several of the other girls were not as enthusiastic about picking out bunnies and making collars for them (and even playing the games, even with prizes) as Naomi was. But maybe I shouldn't be surprised--after all, she is our unique little Naomi!

Our sweet little five-year-old is certainly big in many ways, but thankfully not all of them. Naomi has no trouble switching back and forth between the real world and her pretend one. And frankly, many times I'd prefer her pretend world where although young bunnies are whiny and quite mischievous at times, they're cute and nothing too bad happens. Her stuffies still often wear dresses, as does Naomi, and the more accessories, the better.

Elise and I spent many happy
hours together after
bedtime in the sewing
room. 

Naomi is so very, very into bunnies right now, and has invented names ages and personalities for all of hers. Although the ages change frequently, as usually someone has a birthday any given day. She raises them on cupcakes, ice cream, cookies and donuts, and of course the occasional carrot because we want them to be healthy, right? They still sometimes get hurt or sick, but fortunately, the vet is nearby. They youngest ones never want to take their naps, but Naomi makes sure they do, often paired up with an older bunny. She's kind, but firm with them.

Naomi says "pencil" for "pretzel," "chopstick" for "chapstick," and "constructions" for "instructions," although I'm mildly working on correcting her. Her visual skills are excellent, and she easily learned a 100-piece puzzle on her birthday, plus she can hold her own at Memory when she focuses. She really enjoys games--more than her sisters at that age--and has been tinkering around on the piano.

Eighty percent of the time, Naomi agreeably plays or follows along with what we're doing. Nineteen percent of the time she's either super goofy or fairly sensitive ("This dress feels too big."). And the remaining 1 percent? Well, let's just say she has spirit.... you'd never guess by looking at her or interacting with her, but it's totally there.

Naomi can sing on-key, kind of almost ride with training wheels a little (but with no motivation to actually make it work), hop across the room, NOT pump herself in the swing for more than 30 seconds despite a year or two's worth of work, make a diagram of the Mousetrap board (not kidding!!), crack an egg, carry on a decent phone conversation, dance, run fast, follow Lego instructions, put away all the laundry she can reach (and even put her own dresses on hangers), empty about half of the dishwasher, complete the entire Band-Aid process all by herself (as long as the Band-Aids are cute) and retell all the main parts of a story.

She's developed a nice bond with the pet bunny, Andy, who doesn't run away from her even though she sometimes pets him a bit harder than the rest of us do. She held a hissing cockroach last week at a museum, which stunned all of us.

Naomi had her tongue bump
removed! She recovered like
a pro, and was so brave going
in all by herself that even the
doctor was impressed. The
nurses told her that much
older girls cry sometimes.

No one would have predicted
this, or that it actually lasted
for full minutes.

But she's often braver than you'd think, as long as you give her time to get used to the idea of being brave. In the past year she allowed herself to be rowed around in an inflatable kayak, learned to swim with a floatie on, had surgery like a pro, tried pasta (and liked it for a couple days!) and many more tiny things that wouldn't take much courage from the rest of us, but sure do from her.
Naomi is learning to read, write lowercase and play with numbers. She loves school, but possibly only because her big sisters don't (always). She likes to be different from them, except when she enjoys going along with whatever they're doing. And actually, she's well positioned for either of those options.

Particular is one word we use to describe Naomi, as she's ultra-conscious of how her dresses fit (yes, still mostly dresses, or at least skirts), how her hair is arranged, how her socks don't match (and are usually the wrong season), and virtually everything regarding food. And at the same time, whenever she's feeling particularly big, she's easy, breezy and go-with-the-flow.

Not pictured: All the little
flecks of chocolate cake it
was impossible to keep out
of the icing. Fortunately,
the addition of more icing
covered a lot of them.

Naomi gets along well with both of her sisters, enjoying littler playtimes with patient Elise, who also reads her stories, and imaginative adventures with Kalina, who creatively guides and directs her. And yet, they clash--especially, lately, Kalina and Naomi, who occasionally irritate each other both on purpose and not.

You'll usually find Naomi crafting/drawing (and she comes up with her own crafts!!), nurturing her stuffies, playing a game,  playing with play-dough, playing with a sister, building a little with Legos, or chatting with me. She will venture outside, but is generally a homebody.

As a rule, Naomi follows rules unless everyone else is. In this case, she'll deviate. At heart, though, I'm pretty sure she's a rules-follower, and the free-spirited youngest-child side is probably good for her.

She's classically cute, at a very 5-year-old little girl level, losing herself in her imagination, making up songs and stories, dressing to the nines even for the most mundane days, giggling adorably at mischief, silliness and tickles and managing her own little world quite nicely. As bonus, she manages to roll her p's and b's at the beginnings of words to give them an extra flourish sometimes. Because sometimes you need an extra flourish. And sprinkles.

Naomi adores her friends and schedules playdates with them as often as she can possibly convince me. One neighbor girl likes sweet little girl playtime as much as she does, and they enjoy tea parties, princess dresses, stuffed animals and more together (although Naomi's now saying she's too old for princesses. Because, 5.).

She's super proud of her maturity, and loves to speculate about what a 2-year-old, 3-year-old, 4-year-old and now, 4-and-a-half-year-old would do in any given situation. And yet, she's still tiny--"Mommy, why does it seem like all the dresses are made for bigger people?"

Frankly, Naomi is plenty big for this mommy! Happy birthday, Little Bunny!