Elizabeth's Birthday Plans

Elizabeth has been getting pretty excited for her upcoming birthday (she'll turn 2 on June 15th). I don't remember my other kids being so into it at this age. I think she must have been listening to the older kids a lot - recently they have been having lots of discussions about the birthday meals they're going to choose this year, and what kinds of birthday cakes they'll want (they take this very seriously and repeatedly give me updated plans throughout the year). A few weeks ago Lizza started asking me every day if it was her birthday. I would tell her, "not yet, but it's almost coming!"

Then I guess she got frustrated that I wasn't doing anything to make it happen sooner, so she just started announcing her birthday. At random moments throughout the day, she'd call out, "Mom! It's Lizza's birthday!" Then she would throw her arms up in the air and make a really excited face, like she's thinking maybe I'll believe her and agree that it's her birthday if she just acts the part well enough. She obviously does not understand that there is a set date for it; She thinks if she tries hard enough or asks often enough, I'll give in and let it be her birthday. I feel bad for her because she has no idea how to make it be her birthday and she's trying so hard.

She might have resigned herself to the fact that it's not happening for awhile - the last few days instead of telling me it's her birthday, she has told me that her "birthday's cooking", and it's "almost ready." I'm not exactly sure what she means by that. I think she might be talking about her birthday cake. I guess it makes her feel better if she pretends that her cake is still cooking and it's not quite ready, so that's why we keep putting off having her birthday. She already has grand plans for her cake - she has told me that she wants it to be purple and pink with strawberries on it. I'll see what I can do.

I wonder how she's going to react when it actually is her birthday. I hope it's all that she's imagined. She already knows one present she's going to get, and she's thrilled about it - a new toothbrush. I know that sounds lame, but right now she just has a plain blue one that I let her use because it's extra, and she is very jealous of Rachel's Dora toothbrush and is always trying to steal it (Lizzy is the only one of my children who is enthusiastic about brushing her teeth - I wouldn't even do hers at all if she didn't insist on it - brushing my kids' teeth has never been one of my strengths). Anyway, she was complaining the other day that she didn't have a Dora toothbrush, and I asked her if maybe she'd like to get a brand new toothbrush for her birthday. She was very excited about the idea. We could probably just do that and the purple cake and we'd be set.

Speaking of Elizabeth's plans for the near future, though, she also seems to be getting pretty excited about our new baby coming. She's always talking about the baby in my tummy, and how it's almost coming. Yesterday out of the blue she announced, "Baby coming! Lizza hold little baby. Lizza nice." She then did a big fake smile at me to show me what a nice, caring big sister she's going to be. She's still got a lot of convincing to do before I'm letting her anywhere near him.