Miss Gives Away Her Birthday Gifts

When we were planning Little Miss's Kitty party, the cat adoption activity brought on a talk about animal shelters and cats that don't have families to live with.  It made Missy sad, and She asked if we could bring some birthday cake to the "sad kitties" to cheer them up.  I had to explain that cake probably wasn't the best food for a cat, but that She could always choose to ask for cat things at Her party, and share those.  Missy jumped at that plan, and so instead of gifts for Herself, She chose to ask guests to bring cat items to be donated to the local shelter.  This past weekend we gathered everything up and headed over to deliver them in person.

Miss at the shelter with some of Her birthday gifts  

Helping Hands

The shelter volunteers were wonderful; they were very excited about the supplies and even gave Miss a birthday cupcake as a thank-you.

Missy was pretty excited about that, but the best part was getting to go into the cat room to give toys and play with the cats.


She was in Little Miss heaven.  She gently pet and talked to all the cats, and one black and white kitty was especially fond of Her.  She got in lots of furry cuddles and was all smiles!

We dosed Little One that morning with allergy medicine, dressed Her in layers so She could peel off Her furry cardigan, and washed all over in the bathroom right after. So She got to participate in the visit, too, and though She sneezed and itched a little the rest of the day, it was worth it.

The girls also got a personal tour of the shelter, visiting dogs, bunnies, ferrets, rats, and birds.

We wrapped it up with an outing to our family's favorite restaurant for lunch, and it was an awesome day!  In our family, we do make-a-fuss birthday parties, and we consider that to be our gift to our birthday child.  So almost all the packages Miss unwrapped this year went to the shelter.
It's true that little kids love getting presents on their birthdays. But a new toy loses its novelty value and soon ends up with the others on a shelf somewhere.  Our Littles are very lucky to have generous grandparents and aunts who never let them go a year without a box arriving with something special just for them, and I think that the gifts they receive are more appreciated when they come from revered grandparents, and don't get lost in a mountain of coloring books and plastic ponies.
Besides which, I can honestly say to all the friends who brought donations to Her party, that they gave Her a gift far beyond the value of a bag of cat food.  For the worlds' greatest lover of cats, a whole morning surrounded by kitties was priceless.  I don't think any object could possibly have pleased Her more.
And though of course I can only surmise, I think that the feeling of being thanked by the shelter staff and seeing the cats bat at and chase the toys She brought them will outlast the memory of any toy we could have bought Her.
Sometimes, the best gift is the chance to give.

Little Mister FOUR Months

Four months.   FOUR! So it's official; Mister is no longer a "newborn".  He's a real, bouncing, BABY boy.  Now that we are in full baby-mode, Mister has lots of news to share.

Accomplishments:

BIG one! He rolled over!  Hanging out with me and my mom, rocking some tummy time, I was just saying how close He was to rolling, when He flipped over onto His back! He did it a few more times, just to show off, and was very proud of Himself.  We were too!

He has discovered feet.  Funny little devils.  Fun to stare at, chase after, and fun to kick stuff with. Kicking stuff has become almost as fun as hitting stuff. ( Insert gender-biased boy comment here).

He has perfected the Grab, and all persons with dangly earrings and/or long hair beware!  Most recently, He can also grab and shake, and it it pretty exciting.  I mean He shakes both the toy, and Himself.  

He has moved from the cradle in our room to His own crib in His own room.  With mixed results.  Mister can make it about a six hour stretch at night- but doesn't love to.  He would highly prefer, of course, to be snuggled all night.  And all day.  And just all the time.  But we are working on getting Him to fly solo at night.

It may be a long effort, though, because He continues to have some feeding issues probably due to his tongue-tie. Yeah, apparently that's like a real thing.  He may have to get snipped, but His sissy of a mama is dragging feet.  However, as a full night's sleep seems to get no nearer, I am reconsidering.  The problem is that He can't get enough milk to get really full unless He takes a bottle, and so He tends to wake every four hours still, starving.

He'd love to be a bottle-fed baby.  There is so little effort involved that He just kicks back like He's on the beach with a margarita and gets this glazed over look as He glugs it down.  Too bad for Mister, I am stubborn and He can just forget it.  But He has other likes that I can give in to:

- Bath.  Of course.  Still a huge fan, and getting very splashy.
- Books.  Loving trying to grab the pictures off the page, the more colorful the better.
- Sisters.  Nothing makes Him smile and wiggle quite like hearing His sisters come in the door, or getting one face-to-face.  It's awesome.
- Any direct attention.  He looks so honored when anyone talks right to Him.  "Me? Who ME? Are you talking to ME?! WELL HI THERE!!!"
- And loves a good back and forth conversation.  Even the serious talks eventually turn into comedy. This guy loves to laugh.
- Seeing the world.  During the day, His preference is to be carried around; going on a walk is even better, but getting toted about the house is also good, so long as we keep moving so the scenery changes.
- Hi sleep sack and pacifier.  OOooooh COzy.  He loves to snuggle in.
- Swings, gently being lifted up and down, getting danced around with.  A man of action!
- His hands.  Those things are delicious.  And fascinating! Did you know they can attach to one another?  Whoa.
- Baby toys.  He is finally erudite enough to appreciate the finer qualities of blue fuzzy elephants.  The ones that rattle are for sure the best ones.  Especially the blue, fuzzy elephant that rattles.

A few things still don't make that happy list:
-Boredom.  The worst thing ever is to be left on the play mat a few seconds past interesting.  Or to read one page past novelty value.  Or to be in a gosh-darn Evil Chair (car seat) for more than about two blocks.  BORing!
- Nursing.  It's a love-hate thing.  But for the most part, this necessary endeavor is frustrating and even a little painful for our poor guy.
- Poo.  He can't stand a dirty diaper.  And loves to be changed.  Unsnapping His onesie makes Him grin and gurgle.  It might also be the partial nudity involved, but He definitely loves to get clean.
-Hats.  So sad, because He is so bald and it is still cold.  We battle it out.
- Other people's sneezes.  He can take a lot in stride, including (thanks to the Sisters) a lot of noise.  But people sneezing freak Him out.
- Being upset.  Being upset, makes Him upset.  If I don't attend to Him right away, He seems to forget what He was crying about. All He knows is that He's unhappy, and He's going to scream about it until forever.  If He fusses from hunger and I don't get to Him before He's worked Himself up, then trying to feed Him only makes Him more mad.  "AHHHH! I'm already SO upset and now you're shoving stuff in my face! YOU MONSTER!"  If He fusses because He's dirty and I can't change Him right away, laying Him on the changing pad makes Him rage.  "AAAH! I'm already SO upset and now you're abandoning me on this surface of some sort! YOU MONSTER!"  If He's sleepy and I don't get Him settled into His crib before He melts down, putting Him in His beloved sleep sack only amplifies the screaming.  "AAAHHHH! I'm already SO upset and now you're cramming me into this sausage casing! WHY ME?! YOU MONSTER!!"  I have learned that when He gets going, I have to calm Him first, and then solve the underlying issue.  This can lead to some extreme measures.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm ready to try out for the circus, should I ever require a career change.

But I'm not looking to run off to the circus any time soon.  For one thing, with three kids, two dogs, and a move coming up, I can't imagine it would be a whole lot more exciting.  For another, even fuzzy tigers and dogs in tutus have nothing on the cuteness I get to indulge in here.
The newborn stage flew by so awfully fast, and I know that Mister's babyhood will too.  I can't slow it down, but the benefit to being the third (there's got to be some benefits, right?) is that I know that.  But I mean, I really, in my heart, in my bones know it.  And so I reflexively soak up the baby drool and giggles and gurgles every moment I can.  Little Mister, you were such a lovely newborn. I just know you will be a fantastic baby, too!  

Kitty Party

You know, Missy started Meowing before She said Her first word.  It is a great mystery of life how a lithe girl raised in a family of dog-lovers could become such an adamant cat person, but here She is.  OBSESSED.  So when I started to ask Her what kind of birthday party She'd like this year, I didn't even get the whole question out of my mouth before She began dancing around hollering "Kitties! Kitties! Kitty pah-tee YAY!" 

And so, though I had the uneasy feeling of enabling an addiction, we went for kitties.  How can you have a kitty party?  Just like, put some yarn out or something?  Hmm.  Some brainstorming with Miss and Little One got ideas going and pretty soon we ended up with the kittiest party I think Miss could have asked for.  It was a lot of fun! 

When our guests arrived, they stopped at the "cat shelter" and picked out a new cat to adopt.  

They named their new friend and filled out an adoption certificate and "license" tag, and chose a cat carrier to bring it home in.  

free printable adoption certificates from chickabug

Of course, the carriers and name tags needed a little decorating first.  

Then they went over to the animal hospital and gave their new pet a thorough check-up.  

We had some doctor kits out, and a favorite cat anatomy and fact book for reference.  There were cat eye-charts, dental charts, and physical forms to fill out with crayons, and band-aids and bandages for those who were diagnosed with owies.  

All the cats finished their visit with a Rx for some vitamins (fruit snacks) to take home. 

After that they went over to the pet shop so they would have all the supplies they needed to care for their new pet.  

They picked up some cat food (chocolate cereal), a food dish (painted baby food lids), and a cuddly blanket.  

They they got to fashion a collar out of ribbons and craft a toy for their cat out of pipe cleaners, feathers, and beads.  

Now that they were all set, our new cat-owners went to the "fancy feast" for snacks. 

 

Fish stick and chicken nugget "catch of the day"

cat-nip dip and veggies

strawberry mice with twizler tails

goldfish in a bowl (swedish fish in jello)

canaries and kitty chow (chex mix)

goldfish punch (just blue Hawaiian punch and sprite)

And, of course, cake.  I had a lot of fun making this cake.  Marshmallow fondant is like grown-up play-dough.  Everything was vegan and allergy-safe, so we didn't have to worry about anything.  

Little Miss loved the party.  She was very specific about Her guest list, and was so happy that Her best friends from school and play group were there to play with Her.  

Mister's kitten onesie, along with Little One's shirt and Missy's skirt made by my mom!

"MEEEEOWWW!"

She was in Her element with all the cat-ness.  

As usual, the only thing She wasn't so happy with was the moment She was forced into the center of attention.  

All those staring, singing people just weird Her out! She hid behind Her hands and whispered to Little One, "You do it, sissy!"  So Little One helped Her out and blew out the candle for Her.

  

Of course, getting to eat the cake helped Her make a quick recovery.  

I usually make a piñata, but for a cat party? The idea of bashing a cat in effigy seemed a little morbid. So instead, I drew faces and ears on easter eggs and added yarn tails to make them look like mice.  We filled them with goodies and J hid them while the kids had cake.  Then all our kitty friends ran out onto the playground for a mouse hunt!

caught one!

We ended the fun by running off all the sugar on the playground.

Little Miss had ballet right before the party, a quick nap after and then attended the party of a couple of Her friends who share a birthday week.  Then She and Little One headed over to their weekly swimming lesson!

It was an absolutely jam-packed, could not possibly have fit in any more fun kind of day.  Missy had a great time- we all did!  Happy Birthday to our Little Miss kitty-cat lover.  We think She's the cat's meow!