Poco Mountain Girl

Zia was invited to a birthday party for her friend Catherine. When you’re 4 1/2, a birthday party is a very big deal, such that you count off the days every morning as soon as you wake up.

She asked me to PLEEEASE leave her at the party, and then go away. “I’ll be fine, Mamma.”

Hm. Are you sure? You’re still my baby, you know.

Such a great event called for a some new duds, so off we went to Jo-Ann Fabrics. We looked through the entire store before this pink cowgirl pattern caught her eye. There was no question: this was it. So we brought it to the counter, had the measuring lady cut a yard and a half, and went home to stitch it up.

A yard and a half turned out perfect. It was just enough to make 3 gathered tiers with a hem that almost touched her ankles. She’s been wanting a skirt like this for quite a while, pointing them out whenever she saw one on some lucky girl around town.

As for the party, I think it was even more perfect than she had imagined. When I came to pick her up (yes, I really did leave her) she told me all about it. There was a pinata to smash, a fairy toss game, cake and ice cream (it shocked her that they had both cake and ice cream together), and little bags of candy to take home.

I am hoping the reason she was so thrilled is not because her mother is a female Scrooge, but because of something to do with those Little House on the Prairie books she loves so much, where Laura and Mary gasp with delight over a stick of candy, a little homemade cake, a tin cup. Everything was amazing to them. Maybe she is simply learning gratitude. (Please let this be the case.)

But even if her mother is a treat-withholding Scrooge, it doesn’t seem to affect this little girl’s sheer excitement over every sweet thing life has to offer–from a cowgirl skirt and a birthday party, to sitting on the floor and eating salad with her brother as they watch a Disney movie on a 13″ laptop.

And that, I think, is a good way for a 4 1/2 year old to live. Happy.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 9:53 am and is filed under Celebrating, Little Redhead Girl, Making Stuff, Stitchin' Time. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.