Lucy is Six!

Lucy had a wonderful sixth birthday. We originally planned to have her friend Abby H come over for an outside playdate (the first playdate since quarantine began!), but then Carrie (her mom) had to be tested for Covid-19 and the H family had to isolate while waiting for Carrie's results. So, we spent the day at home. Luckily, she got lots of presents from her family and extended family, so she wasn't at a loss for things to do. It was a marathon day for me, but I worked hard to say "yes" to everything she asked. She and I flitted from toy to craft to bubbles to toys all day long. The house was a wreck by the end of the day and I was really exhausted, but she had a fabulous birthday. (And Sam said that he had a great day too, because for the most part Lucy was occupied with me and he was able to have alone time in his room! Ha!)


During quarantine Lucy has rediscovered her love for Little People princess figurines. She got her pink Little People castle years ago, but last year I started to store it in her closet because it wasn't getting played with. However, over the past few months she has become really fixated on her princess castle and figurines, and she even was pretending that the pink castle was Elsa's ice castle. It seemed right to get her the Elsa castle for a birthday gift. She didn't even know such a thing existed!

Instead of a Moana cake (since Abby couldn't come over), Lucy wanted to have pancakes with a Moana topper. She specifically wanted to eat blue whipped cream so that it would look like Moana was sailing on water.

Here the old princesses are meeting the new Frozen characters.

Sam was kind and even helped play with Lucy, so she could enjoy her new Frozen castle. Elsa's castle is being defended by Star Wars ships and figurines

Lucy had her birthday playdate with abby all planned out to be a Moana-themed birthday party. Since Abby wasn't able to make it, we still pulled out Lucy's Moana dress and she got to wear the Heart of Tafiti necklace that she planned to wear with Abby.

A fairy house from the F family!

A giant craft kit from C and S

A giant bubble wand from E and T

Picnic dinner from Din Tai Fung at Seahurst Park. Lucy had wanted to swim, but it was too chilly.

Chocolate dumplings for a birthday dessert!

Lucy didn't even notice that her loose tooth came out while she was eating her birthday dumplings! She was startled and had a little cry when she realized her tooth was gone, but she was comforted to know that the Tooth Fairy would still come. She wrote a note, just to be sure.

Bop came over to bring Lucy a birthday present! Gram developed a cold that day, and out of an abundance of caution she stayed home and Bop was sure to wear a mask.

A few days later, we were finally able to have Abby come over for an outdoor playdate (Carrie's test came back negative!). Lucy was so thrilled to get to play with her friend after being separated from peers for so long:

We went hiking with the Hongs about a week later. Lucy and Abby held hands several times while hiking. I know social distancing is important, but I didn't have the heart to stop this cute little manifestation of friendship (although we did sanitize hands afterward!).

Here are few more recent pictures of Lucy:

On a recent hike to Franklin Falls

Reading "The Light Princess" with Blondie Bloom and Felicity

She still loves to play with dolls, both the Fisher Price princesses, Blondie Bloom, Felicity, and the Strawberry Shortcake dolls in her doll house. She also enjoys playing with Lego, reading Tomie de Paola books, riding her bike (she just started to ride without training wheels) and playing with Sam. She has a mild interest in playing the piano, and we practice for a few minutes every couple of days. Here is a cute poem that she wrote for kindergarten:

And here are some drawings that also were made about this same time. She likes writing and drawing on the whiteboard, and we have been trying to practice her handwriting this way:

She is getting more independent, although she still prefers to have a friend with her at all times (and in quarantine, that means either me, J or Sam). She is also getting more mature, and we don't often have fits or outbursts of temper from her anymore. She knows that she can get Sam to play with her if the story involves Star Wars, and she has a growing interest in Star Wars lore. She also likes to play Sam's Lego Star Wars game on the iPad, and it is amusing to hear her talking about "defeating" people in that game. 

Her day-to-day preferences are almost always the opposite of what Sam wants, whether it is the route for our morning walk with Violet or opinions about what to do during the day, but she and Sam always come to a compromise. They have been good quarantine buddies while we have been stuck at home for the past several months.