Welcome to 9, Love of Our Life!

M ~

Hi, Boo! Happy March! Guess what? It's your birthday month!! Woo hoo!! I can't believe you are 9. Halfway to being an adult already! Time is going way too fast. As you get older, our conversations are getting much more mature, especially around big life events like your birthday. I may have fewer and fewer appeasing answers for you as you grow up, but I promise I will always listen and support you. Ok, Monkey? It is just such an honor to learn about and be here with you. I feel very lucky to be your mom.

With that being said, what about the party?! Well...

So, I'm sure you remember that Suzy had a big surgery recently, right?  Unfortunately, with the cost of both the surgery and her recovery, along with some other things we're dealing with lately, we chose to postpone your big birthday bash with friends until slightly later in the year. Better weather might be more fun anyway since March is such a notoriously grey time of year here. *Yay, Ohio* Plus, none of our ideas for your birthday bash were floating your boat. So, postpone the party it is.

However, we did do our traditional birthday breakfast with the kitchen all decorated, brought treats and goodies to school for your class, and had a dinner out with family to celebrate. At this point, I am thinking that we might combine your birthday bash with our family day party and do some type of fun sleepover after the gathering. I don't know, but I'm just glad that you are so appreciative of any type of recognition and celebration we do for you. You are one of the most grateful kids I know. Seriously.

You are also thoughtful too. Below are the texts you and I sent back and forth when I was trying to find treats to take into your third grade class. One of your buddies, Emerson, is allergic to nuts and you are fiercely protective of that. As you can see, you were extremely cautious about any of the treats I was proposing.

Before your birthday, Lao Lao brought over one of her special Pop Up cards for you. A unicorn on a rainbow which you loved. It was almost as magical as you are!

The night before your birthday, we had the crazy surprise of our water heater pooping out on us around 9pm and so Daddy and I took the next day off to not only deal with its repair but had the added bonus of us both dropping you off *and* surprising your class with treats. What appeared to be somewhat of a crisis turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Win win!

you chose Moana themed decorations this year...here was what you
woke up to (balloons, gifts, and birthday donut tower!)

it's hard to see but you had a Pua shirt (the pig
from Moana) with a big 9 on the back

balloons, of course!

obligatory family birthday breakfast selfie

GG was being ornery so I wrapped him in streamers

can you see it? Daddy just had to project his nose on the
magnifier/projector in your classroom
(basically a giant kid!)

the crew that could assemble for your birthday dinner
(of all places, you wanted the China Garden Buffer)

After turning 9, you also committed this act of rebellion...see below. Hahaha!

Shortly after your birthday, we celebrated the International Day of Women at a rally at Goodale Park. No one is too young for activism!

And this is just a silly shot I took one night when you swiped my pants to be goofy.

Long Legs McGee

Suzy is working super hard on healing up nicely and adjusting to cage rest...it definitely helps when she cages herself and actually enjoys it!

One particular night this month, you chose to give me a makeover. Lovely, yeah?

notice the white stripe from my nose to lips?
(yeah, I don't know what it is either. ha!)

Then you gave yourself a makeover too. A little hard to see in this picture, but we are definitely trying some new looks. You constantly surprise me. (and p.s. not sure why this picture -and another couple later on - are flipped...for the life of me they just wouldn't load right. Ahh, technology!)

even sideways, we cute

You also tried to sleep in your own bed a couple times this month. Ultimately, you wound up back in our bed within a half hour, but at this particular moment below you were so stoked when GG came to snuggle with you. You love your kitty.

flipped pic but still super cute

Doing your reading homework by monkey grip.

In the picture below, I want you to look closely and notice the small space to the left of both you and Suzy. See it? Yeah. That's all the space I get to sleep in bed with y'all. Seriously. That's it. Crazy bed hogs!

flipped pic but you get the gist

We also had your Spring Fling Festival at school this month too. Here you are making slime with a friend leaning in behind you to try to make you laugh.

messy!

And while we brought Anabelle with us to the festival, we ended up bringing Darion home with us. You can tell that all of you just ate a large quantity of sugar before piling in the car. Yeah?

Daddy ended up working late on St. Patrick's Day so you and I made a green dinner together ~ green loaded potato soup, green shamrock cornbread muffins, and green berry punch. Yummo!

We also played an impromptu (and super hilarious) game of Hedbandz but not before wrestling and attempting to pick each others' noses first. Ha. 

Remember how I said you constantly surprise me? Well, below is a picture of another night when you asked me to put your hair in a ponytail and help you learn how to apply make up. So far, this is completely out of character for you, especially when you said, "I'm beautiful!" Yes, kiddo. You are a beautiful human and I hope you always feel comfortable expressing yourself in any way you choose. Feminine, masculine, or anything in between. You have our support in everything. The most important thing is that you are happy. Ok? Ok!

We also cat-shamed a bit this month as well. GG is by far our most ornery animal and with one too many episodes of terrorizing each of his family members, we took advantage of the dog cage for a little kitty time out. Turd.

A friend of yours (Fatima) who happens to be a great artist has also been drawing you some fun sketches lately. These two you promptly displayed in your room. So cute!

And these are some selfies that I found on my phone one morning...so funny. The angle makes you look like a giant!

We brought Addi home with us one afternoon after school and you had a play date. Addi can sometimes get anxious and tends to shy away from going places sometimes so we feel extra special that she feels so comfortable hanging out with us. She is a very sweet friend.

when I sent this picture to Addi's mom, she asked,
"Is Mali pooping?" Hahaha!

Slowly, very slowly, you are getting a bit more interested in reading. It's not a top choice yet, you much prefer making YouTube videos to reading, but one evening we had family reading time and you insisted on reading one of my favorite books. Trevor Noah's memoir "Born A Crime". I read one of the short, funny stories to you when I was reading it a few months back and since you watch The Daily Show with us as well, you figured it would be a good book to check out. I love it.

We also took advantage of your spring break at the end of this month and you, Lao Lao and I went to Atlanta together. We originally were going to check out their Legoland (which actually ended up sucking), but wound up enjoying a behind the scenes tour of CNN that turned out to be your most favorite thing in Atlanta (aside from the hotel pool, ha). You even said that someday you hope to work there too. Very cool!

there's a giant ferris wheel just over your head
in the pic but you are pointing out CNN
("look, Mom! CNN!")

cool sculpture in Centennial Olympic Park from the 1996 Olympics

On the first day, we got to check out the World of Coca Cola. While there we tried dozens of different Coke products from around the world. I can't remember our favorites (I think they were from some various African countries) but I know that we did not like the ones from India (tasted like dirt) or Italy (tasted like a very bitter grapefruit). Blech. You and Lao Lao got to submit some of your favorite "Coca Cola memories" and you even got to design your own Coke bottle. Very cool!

writing your memory

Lao Lao writing hers

working hard on crafting a very special bottle design

ta dah!

all digitally displayed on the wall above you

we found the bottle display for China

all hopped up on lots of sugary drinks

Then we headed to the Georgia Aquarium. It was huge and very cool. Our favorite part was the dolphin show (but they didn't allow any pictures or videos there so I can't show you here how awesome it was).

pointing out belugas, I believe

crawling into the penguin exhibit

popping up in a penguin bubble

up close and personal with the penguins

We headed over to the Civil Rights Museum and surprisingly, you were very interested in this. I'm not sure if it was because you noticed how moved Lao Lao and I were or if you just naturally are drawn to caring about the rights of others, but you really seemed to be touched by the visit.

Civil Rights Museum...power to the people!

listening to actual recorded speeches from people
like Martin Luther King, Jr. very powerful!

As we left the museum, you said, "That's like a lesson learned for Trump." Yes, dear. I couldn't agree more.

On the way back to the hotel and to Daddy's dismay, you got to try curry chicken on our trip too (Daddy hates curry anything).

And you loved it! Sorry, Daddy!

we didn't eat here, but definitely had to stop to check
out the guitars outside the Hard Rock Cafe

The second day in Atlanta went to Legoland, but like I mentioned before, it was really small and really awful. Nothing too interesting other than getting to see a 4D movie. It was really loud and obnoxious, but a neat experience. Of course, the picture below was how you watched the movie. Haha!

And then...we headed to CNN. It was an impromptu decision to take this tour and I am so glad we did! Our tour guide, ShaRonica, was great and you stuck to her like glue for most of the tour. It was adorable.

with ShaRonica

I had no idea they were in Atlanta...we lucked out!

a little picture you made with your
CNN bear from the gift shop

After CNN, we headed to the airport for our super late flight. Unfortunately, I was hit by a fever and even wound up puking twice while waiting for our plane. Yikes! It was a long trip home for me, but we made it. Regardless of my rough ending, I am so glad we got to add another fun trip to the books for the 3 of us.

I love you so much!!
Happy 9th birthday, Monkeyfish.
Mama