Sadie is five. No one authorized this transition from "little girl" to "big girl" but it happened.

She dresses herself. She washes her own hair. She brushes her own teeth. She knows that EE says "ee." She knows that "OO" says "oo". She writes, spelling touching like "tuching." She dances, holding her passe forever. She likes Spongebob and Star Wars. She loves all her stuffed animals, even the ones she pretends are criminals. She plays the violin with total concentration, and she's halfway through learning "Perpetual Motion." She tells me "I won't be your baby forever" when she wants to be tickled. She has grown out of size four tights -- they don't even get up to her waist. Size five pants fall right off. She only wants her dad to brush her hair. She still calls for me in the middle of the night sometimes, so she can shove her feet under me while she sleeps. She doesn't like the closet door open. She likes Geggy Tah and They Might Be Giants. She sings, she paints, she plays "narrative" chess with no rules, she eats very little.

She starts karate tomorrow! My bald little baby!

Here she was:


Here are some pictures from her birthday:







The party was at Jumpin' Jelly Beans, a huge huge warehousey place with a mazillion of those blow-up jumping castle type things in it. Wow, it was huge! We had 20 kids at the party, and seriously they could have run around all day without bumping into each other.

Here's the cake Sadie decorated. No one wanted to eat it! They preferred the chocolate:



This picture is pretty funny. She was kind of overwhelmed by the sugar and the jumping and the awesome:



Here are some more pictures of the party:







More pictures in my Flickr. The party was wonderful. Our sweet, generous friends showered her with thoughtful gifts, the wonderful children were sweet and enthusiastic through it all, and the venue was perfect. A great success.

Sadie is beautiful, loving, hilarious, and five. I guess I better get used to it.

Labels: birthday, jumpin jelly beans, sadie