cinco de mae-o

Happy fifth birthday, Mae!

Mae’s favorite activities are coloring and reading. She has the reading comprehension but not the patience for chapter books, so graphic novels are the perfect compromise. Her favorite series include Unicorn Diaries and Owl Diaries, Bird and Squirrel, and Narwahl and Jelly. She loves getting letters from family, but struggles to read them if they are in “curse” (cursive.)

Her Octonauts obsession is still going strong, and she watches it almost every night before bed. Her other “screen time” favorites are Khan Academy Kids on my phone and PBS Kids games on the computer. Over the last year, she has gotten much better at independent play. She loves Playmobil, puzzles, and playing school with her American Girl doll (and the hand-me-down ones from me.) She has expanded her board game repertoire and can even manage a game of Azul with minimal help! We’ve also been playing Clue Jr.

She always has tons of energy, so we try to go for walks/scooter rides and visit the playground as often as possible. We gave her a bike for her birthday, and she is both excited and anxious about learning to ride it. Cosmic Kids Yoga on YouTube is still a favorite activity.

I registered mae for Kindergarten starting in the fall. Her day care celebrated pre-K graduation a couple weeks ago. They performed a short song-and-dance program that was recorded and sent to the parents. She practiced it for weeks, and we were so entertained by her renditions of the Macarena and the Gangnam Style dance. They also interviewed each kid about what they want to be when they grow up… Mae wants to be a zookeeper!

We gave Mae her birthday gifts last weekend, since we wanted to give her extra time on her bike. On Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa came for a short visit and birthday celebration and took the kids to the park.

Today, we celebrated with Dan’s whole family (who we haven’t been all together with since Christmas 2019). Dan and I are enjoying the freedom and stress reduction that come with being fully vaccinated! We had hot dogs for lunch and pizza and strawberry cupcakes for dinner. Mae got lots of quality beach time (and lots of attention.) She said several times that it was a great birthday!

We can't wait to see what the future holds for you, Sweet Pea! Happy birthday!