Our resilient (almost) 5 year old

 

It was supposed to snow or sleet up to an inch this afternoon, starting around 2 pm. In our experience, that kind of forecast means no precipitation at all, or a sprinkling of rain.

But today was different. It started snowing at 10:30 am, while the girls and I were in Friends' Meeting. We hurried out quickly at the end to pick up Alice's birthday cake from the bakery, and the snow was sticking to our windshield and then to the streets by the time we got home.

From our cozy fourth-floor perch we kept an eye on the wintry scene out the window as the girls viewed "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street," and I prepped for classes. Tom called to say he was stuck on the highway in NJ, awaiting snowplows. He was on his way home for Alice's 4:30 gymnastics birthday party.

As I watched the snow, which was looking more serious than anyone had predicted, I wondered if the gym would close. I called and left a message inquiring. Then I wondered if anyone would show up even if the gym remained open. Only three of the ten little girls she had invited were going to able to attend in the first place; if just two of them decided not to make the trek, it would be a forlorn little gathering (and an expensive one per capita).

At 1:45 the gym called back and said their 12 noon party had hurried to get through so everyone could get home, their 2:30 party had cancelled, the pizza parlor supplying dinner had closed, and we could reschedule with no penalty if we chose. So that settled it. I called the three families planning to attend and told them we were calling it off. No one was surprised.

Then I told Alice, who had been bopping around the apartment making crafts with her sister. She began to cry. I took her in my lap and talked about how we'd be able to extend her birthday celebration this way. And how maybe more kids would be able to come when we did reschedule. Then I suggested that we should go ask the neighbors to have cake with us in the evening. And then I said that yes, I'd stop working and we could go out sledding. And her tears began to dry up.

A little planning had us visiting the Upper School Head first, to see if we could get permission to use the Main Hall for the substitute party. And then we invited him and his wife to the festivities. He said yes we could use the hall, yes they'd come, and he would arrive early to lay a fire for the occasion. Everyone else was also snowed in--all answered their doors, and all said yes, they'd come.

And so it was that we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of sledding on the front lawn, the first real sledding of Alice's life, which we couldn't have planned if we'd tried. Tom made it home after 3.5 white-knuckled hours on the road. And in the evening, we gathered for a birthday party after all. Instead of three guests there were twelve, plus us. Instead of ranging in age from 5 years - 5 years 2 weeks (Alice's best buddies have been having non-stop birthdays in recent days), their ages ranged from 7 months to 70 years. Instead of a bright noisy gymnasium with lots of bouncing, we enjoyed a 19th-century hotel lobby by firelight, where we played board games and sang Christmas carols. And Alice was happy as could be.

I feel so lucky that our five year old is such a joy-filled, plucky person. I feel lucky that in a pinch, we could summon good-natured neighbors to celebrate with a little girl (they even brought presents). And I feel glad that we could, I think, make those neighbors' snowbound evening that much warmer.

What other kid celebrates her birthday with her mother's boss, her sister's Chinese teacher, her own piano teacher and piano teacher's kids, and the babies next door...and is tickled as can be? What a perfect, unplanned, cozy day for us all.

 

 

Not quite the weather we imagined when Alice asked for a mermaid/ocean theme

 

No, Alice did not have both those beers