The Odegaard family: in progress: Now can we open presents? How about now?

A princess under the sea.

On the night before Elise's birthday, it was not my pre-4-year-old I was chatting with far into the night (so, 8:30), but the 6-year-old. We were talking about the one, and the only, Elise. It was Kalina who initiated the conversation. "Isn't Elise just hilarious, Mommy? She could be on a TV show!" the big sister commented proudly of her little sister. "She's so funny, she would make everyone laugh. She could even be the star of a movie, and everyone would just love her!" I wholeheartedly agreed. "I'm so glad we have Elise!" Kalina continued and we both went on in the same vein for a bit.

Because it's true: we're just so glad we have Elise! With her cheerful demeanor, her unedited quips and her kind heart (that doesn't always want worms to fall on Daddy's head, and even then in only the nicest way), Elise never ceases to amaze us. She keeps us laughing and smiling all day long--who couldn't when faced with the mischievous glint that so often finds its way into her eyes, or her offers (demands) to share, or her best "princess face," or baby-kitten/clownfish meow/click, or the silly songs she makes up, or her unfailing insistence on purple, or her excited squeals, or her Really Loud And Sometimes High Pitched expressions, her pride in the various new tricks she can perform, her wacky dancing, her enthusiastic and detailed stories or a million other facets of this sweet girl.

Elise is very loved!

And then there's the fact that if you give Elise a lollipop or sparkly shoes, she will show and tell anyone who glances her way. She makes friends easily, even occasionally with boys though she would rarely admit it, and even volunteered to perform a solo on her first day of preschool music class. The girl thinks every food is a finger food, except fish sticks, which she wants cut up even though I would allow her to eat them with her fingers. She laughs when others laugh and (usually) saddens when others are sad and is happy to run to their rescue. She still refuses to let herself be called "little," she can swing higher on her tummy than anyone I've known and she can clean her room quickly and well, but only if she's motivated for some reason.

Two favorite gifts: the
trampoline and the sparkle
kitty purse like Kalina's,
except Elise's is, of course,
purple.

At four, Elise is making the step from bouncy and imaginative three-year-old to a four-year-old who is really proud of being able to write the "s" in her name, "read" parts of stories--and even sound out the occasional word with lots of help, count to 20 or higher without even needing pesky 15 or annoying 18, and almost skip. She has been known on several occasions to say no to Kalina when the big sister is asking her to break a rule. Not bad for a fun-loving four-year-old!

Elise's dearest dream at the moment is to swim out to a coral reef and nab her own pet clownfish and seahorse, and she believes it is possible, especially since she can now "swim." (This means she can paddle around with floaties--but that didn't stop her from telling her swim instructor, "You can go home now, I don't need any more lessons--I can swim!") She also believes she is a princess, which fortunately for us, often means princess manners and princess kindness every bit as much as plastic-beaded bracelets.

Me and my middlest, as captured by
photographer Kalina.

The party for Elise started a couple weeks ago in Des Moines, with a purple Princess Sofia dress from her Grandma and Grandpa. From that moment, she decided she was not only four years old a bit early, but also Princess Sofia herself. This has been fun and cute, and Kalina has enjoyed playing along, too.

Elise's actual birthday dawned bright and sunny and perfect--and with not a germ in the house. She spotted her first present when she came downstairs: a trampoline from Mommy and Daddy. Elise could jump before she could walk, and loves to do so. On couches, beds--you name it, despite many admonishing from her mommy. And now, on her trampoline! It's big enough for two if they're careful, and has only caused minor injuries so far. She loves it--and I should record for posterity the fact that she loves it exactly as much as the present Kalina picked out for her.

If you're the birthday girl, you
get to take a preliminary nibble.
Especially if you just can't wait.

Which happens to be a Sofia sea castle thing. Kalina, I should note, chose the sea castle over another gift that she herself would've had more fun with because she thought Elise would like the castle better. And Elise does, indeed, love it. The girls bounced and played and ate birthday cereal (Lucky Charms) as long as I could let them before it was time for Elise to go to preschool.

As an extra-special gift, Matt took the day off of work, so just Elise and I loaded up her purple-frosted, sprinkled chocolate cake to bring as a preschool treat and headed to her classroom, where she was probably treated like royalty all morning.

Kalina came with me to pick Elise up so we could surprise her with a big-girls-only trip to McDonald's. Look, we're celebrating and no one is throwing up! (Not this day, anyway--but possibly a couple days ago out of sheer excitement, we assume...it is good that we know Elise's mood affects her stomach...)

A birthday girl waiting for her
guests to arrive.

And of course, we wouldn't make Elise have "downtime" on her birthday, so the big girls watched Sofia on TV while we all got a little rest. What a fun birthday!

Shortly afterward, Grandpa arrived and we had more gifts (a stuffed coral reef! A sparkly kitty purse! Treasure drawers! Princess Legos! An under-the-sea sandbox! A zoo game! And more!), then Elise's birthday supper of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, of which she ate a few bites, probably to save room for the cupcakes she'd gotten to pick out at the grocery store. Elise had been unsure whether or not she needed to sing to herself, but decided to on this occasion.

On heading to bed that night, Elise asked when her real birthday would be. Um.... But she meant her party with friends, which would be held two days later in the morning, assuming, of course, no one came down with a fever or threw up.

The guests are here!

To ward off that possibility, we did end up giving Elise her treat bag early. Also in preparation for the party, we made various types of fish to decorate the walls and ceilings. Kalina, with some help from Elise, made "seaweed wands" out of grapes and skewers, Grandpa blew up a bunch of tiny balloons (bubbles), I twisted seaweed streamers, Matt put together a fishing game and the big girls adorned themselves in princess dresses, and soon we had ourselves a princess-fairy-under-the-sea party! Our guests began to arrive--also in their princess best, plus one ballerina.

We started by decorating clownfish beach balls with markers, an activity that managed to work just fine even with princess dresses (I had smocks available). Then we had playtime and next the fishing game--which, unbeknownst to Elise, was stocked with colorful stuffed clownfish. Elise got to be the first fisherprincess, and Matt did an excellent job of playing "fish," tugging the line just right and even allowing a few to "get away" before any fish were actually "hooked." Our birthday girl was surprised when she reeled in a purple-striped fish, and the other girls quickly stepped up to give it a try.

There were better pictures of
the fishing game, but in this
one you can see the delight
on Elise's face. Aw!

Soon it was time for snacks and cake. Elise consented to go through the routine of singing and blowing out the candles instead of immediately snatching the princess Sofia topper right off and licking the frosting, not to mention digging into a chunk of cake. "Now can I have the Sofia? How about now?" The cake, which Elise helped make, managed to be purple-marble, and quite good. Elise was the first and last one eating, as her favorite method is to pinch off little pieces of frosting and lick her fingers. Maybe by birthday #5 we'll stick to a fork.

I managed to lure Elise away from her cake with the promise of presents. She'd already opened one before I could stop her, but enthusiastically dug into the rest. Poor girl has seen this routine all summer, and was finally glad for her own opportunity to take center stage. She unwrapped a couple Sofia things, a purple jewelry box she could decorate with jeweled stickers, a Tinkerbell movie and a really cool looking game that I'm itching to try with her. What a happy birthday!

"Seaweed wands," princess
Goldfish and string cheese
octopuses, inspired by the
way Kalina turned dandelions
into octopuses this summer.

"Now can we do goody bags?" Elise asked again (I'd been deflecting the question for nearly a week already). It was finally time to answer yes, and the 4-year-old helped everyone get the right bag. The kids all played a bit longer, and then headed for home. Elise had had a wonderful day thanks to her friends and, admittedly, cake, presents and goody bags--the trifecta of a perfect party. Hmm...

In fact, it was a pretty perfect birthday for our middle-sized princess/baby clownfish/baby kitten/sea diver. Here's looking forward to another perfect, and at times "perfect," year with our sweet Elise. Happy birthday, 4-year-old! As Kalina has said many times, we're so glad we have you!