This morning, we had very strict instructions that my wife and I were meant to wake Smallsteps up for her birthday and she would lay in bed until we do.
She woke us up at 630.
We had set an alarm for 8, as that is when she has been sleeping til, when she needs to go to preschool.
Like father, like daughter.
It is so cute though, as this is the first year that she has really been excited about her birthday and has tried to introduce some extra special parts. It is cool to see how she is becoming more aware of herself in this regard and starting to make preference decisions on who she will end up becoming.
She also got a chocolate muffin for breakfast.
That is not normal. However, she didn't want to eat it alone, so she shared it between the three of us so we could all celebrate together.
We had a party at an indoor activity park aimed at younger children with several of her friends from her daycare (they all go to a different preschool than her now), where there are slides and trampolines for them to play on, with a lot of padding everywhere. They also have hosted theme-room parties and of course, Smallsteps went with the "ice princess" room - which I am guessing is pretty popular in her age group.
The room had a staff hosting for an hour, where they served popcorn, ice cream and some juice - which was about the only time they were mostly quiet, until some of them they started mixing the ice cream and popcorn into the juice. It was simple and they enjoyed it.
Last year we hosted it ourselves, but without a kitchen and our house filled with all of the stuff that has been pulled out of there and the office ready for renovation, it was just impossible. Also, it was far easier and likely cheaper to have it at this place, since the cost of hosting with food and some basic decorations is about the same and, takes a lot more work and running around.
This was just turn up, pay - party - leave.
A good idea for us at the moment.
The kids all brought little gifts too of course, which seems to mostly be the same for everyone on their birthday - a coloring book (unicorns or princesses), a fancy pencil (has something glittery stuck to it), a puzzle perhaps. It is nice though, as they are all excited and are happy when someone says, "I have that too" - which is likely going to change in the next few years where they will want to be the only one with something and get annoyed if someone "copies".
There was also a treasure hunt for the birthday girl, which was walking through a dark tunnel to find a pile of present bags, with instructions that they can choose one.
And then, onto the fun part - the playing in the park, where no matter how many times the kids might have been there, they always seem to run around for the entire time, which was two hours on this occasion. And the parents, don't really have to do much either, so it is a win-win.
Smallsteps isn't the bravest when it comes to these kinds of activities, but when she is there with her friends and see them doing something, she puts on a brave face and gives it a go. It is good to challenge her, but it also worries me that she runs the risk of becoming a follower, rather than self-directed. This is her journey though and I am just an interested observer, for the most part.
And what did we get her?
Well, for the last month or so she has been very excitedly counting steps when she has been walking with her Mummi. To do so, she carries her Mummi's phone in a little sling bag over her shoulder and is frequently clocking up 10,000+ during the day.
Since Smallsteps doesn't have a phone (maybe next year), we were able to find a basic fitness watch from Goji (€19 - less than a single movie ticket), that is now paired via bluetooth to my phone. It counts the steps and heartrate (if it was able to go tighter on her wrist), but it does have some limitations. For example in the App, it is only able to set the height at a minimum of 120 cm, which is 15cm "too tall" for Smallsteps at the moment, so even if the steps are accurate, the distance covered will show a little more than what is actual, as it estimates the gait length.
She is super keen on it and loves being able to check the steps for herself, and I am interested to get an idea of how much they are moving at preschool too.
Good call parents!
And, because she put it on not long before going to the party, we have a pretty good idea of how much activity she actually did in the two hours whilst playing with her friends.
Not too bad at all!
I wish I was burning an extra 400 calories a day...
I am always surprised at just how much energy kids can expend in such a short time, needing almost no recovery time before running onto the next thing. If I could run non-stop for a couple hours like that, I would be on the couch for the next four days, to worn-out to stand up. Chasing after and trying to find them as they split up during that time, seemed like enough of a workout for me.
Now though, it is time to dive back into the dust of renovation and get my own weekend activity time in.
Taraz
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