Your Daddy's Birthday

Eliza,

Today was your dada's birthday, and we had a wonderful day together as a family.  I wanted to write about it so I won't ever forget how wonderful it was.  We are a very lucky family of three, aren't we?

You are still feeling a little under the weather, so last night was a bit rough (so rough that your daddy slept on the couch and let us have the big bed all to ourselves! But that's okay, he was happy to do it for you :).  You slept until 6:00am today and then you and I cuddled in bed and watched Caillou for the first time (you seemed to like it!) while your daddy slept in until 7:00.  Then we took dada to breakfast for his birthday - your dada LOVES to go out to breakfast.  It is his favorite meal to eat out (it has never been my favorite, I'm a simple cereal or PB toast kind of girl), so we let him choose and he chose the new Caribbean restaurant that we have been going to lately.  It was scrumptious.  You had oatmeal with mango and pineapple, and shared some of my eggs benedict with spinach, sweet potato, and curried chick peas.  You liked my food better, I think.  You have very adult taste!

After breakfast we went to the Farmer's Market.  It was the opening day of market season and it was only 50 degrees and raining, but we went anyway.  Your daddy and I love the Farmer's Market.  We go a lot during the summer months, so I'm sure you will become quite used to the sights and sounds there.  Two summers ago, I waddled around the aisles in the late summer months with my big belly, and last summer we proudly brought you there as a baby.  This year you are big enough to run around, and you had a great time exploring.  We bought soap, some yummy strawberry jam, and your dada bought that stinky cheese that he loves.  Yuck!!

Then we went home and gave dada one of his presents - a Duplo set with all the zoo animals in it.  It was from you!  I thought it would be a nice thing for you and dada to play with together (he is serious about his legos, even at age 32!!).  He loved it, and you and he played with it a bit before nap.

After nap we played around the house, and after a while we noticed that the SUN came out!  It has been raining for about a week straight, so we jumped on the chance to play outside.  We brought out your sidewalk chalk and bubbles, and we played in the front yard.  Then we walked around to the back and played in the backyard.  You had a great time running around, going down the slide, and playing in your sandbox.  Daddy had some gardening to do (he was planting his hops), and you were very interested in what he was doing.  He introduced you to your first earth worm, too :)

Later, we came inside and sang Happy Birthday to dada and had some cake (yes, you had a little taste too - yes, your mama is careful about how many sweets you eat, but you can always have a little cake at birthday parties).  Then we gave dada his "real" presents.  You helped him open them, you were very helpful.

He had a wonderful day - did you know he told me that all he wanted for his birthday was to spend the whole day with you?  He got just what he wanted.  You are his favorite girl in the whole wide world.