Squish at Six

So, uhm, putting together a child’s birthday party.  Not always easy.

In this case, there were a couple of steps.  Step A, the requested visit to build-a-bear.  Mission accomplished.  Build-a-bear did us a solid this year, and produced a giant purple Hello Kitty with flowered feet… it’s like they had a direct line to her sparkly little dreams.  Zoomboy’s bear choice was a fuzzy camouflaged bear that he has called General Stuffing.  (Chicken has been reading Catch 22–this choice appealed to her!)  Squish’s was the purple Hello Kitty that she calls “Cat.”  Chicken’s choice (yes– at 17, she gets a bear too!) was a giant Kermit the Frog in a tuxedo to replace the one she had until the fourth grade, when it fell completely apart and mom quietly threw it out and told her that we didn’t know where it was.  (It was made of felt, so when it fell apart, it was sort of beyond repair.)

So that was Sunday.  Monday was all about the shopping.  I worked out, went shopping for the rest of her present as well as Easter shopping (oh, the frickin’ pain.  Can I NOT walk into a store and come out with 500 lbs. of chocolate?  For serious?  It’s insane!) and then came home and got the kids and took them to pick out Squishy’s cake as well as groceries.  For the record?  I manage these days to NEVER go grocery shopping with the kids in tow.  Now I remember why.  Ye frickin’ gods.  I came home with several boxes of cake mix, and since A. I don’t like cake and B. I DON’T COOK, I think there’s something very wrong here.

That was Monday– yes, it was almost a complete loss writing-wise, why do you ask?

And then there was yesterday, her ACTUAL BIRTHDAY.  For starters, Big T had to get his wisdom teeth pulled–and, for a bonus, the dentist remembered that *I* was supposed to get a tooth filled so they did us both at the same time.  The only difference was, T got to get completely stoned when we were done, and I got to drive home (stopping off at his office at Cutco, because wandering around Rocklin is FUN! I tell you, FUN!) without the side bennie of drugs!

But I got home, and there was that vision, that lovely girl in the pink and the peach, who had not been awake when I left, telling me that it was HER BIRTHDAY–and the house (which was a disaster) and the six-thousand things I had to do (which I barely got done with a lot of help) fell away.  Look at her  She’s six.

God, I she’s ALWAYS going to seem six to me, isn’t she?

Anyway, the house got clean–Michelle, if you’re out there, I’ve posted a bad picture of the (mostly) excavated kitchen table, just for you.  The good news is, we’re having my Crazy Friend Wendy and her Young Stud, Chris over for dinner on Easter Sunday, so we have less to do toward the house in that way, and that’s always a plus.  (I’m going to be COOKING for that.  Oh Holy Crap.  Cooking.  Fuck.)

Zoomboy and my dad with the gray hair and glasses. I don’t know who the guy with the hat is.  Just lucky to be famous, I guess.

Mate, who is happy and proud, because the seats were so damned awesome, and because he made this happen.

And the rest of the night?  Was the King’s game, followed up by cake and ice cream at that kitchen table.  For the King’s game, Mate got us special tickets, so close to the game, I could almost see Xan and Chris (alas, they were not there to be seen, but I spent a long time fantasizing that they were.)  Big T did not accompany us, although he did have a ticket–his face was swollen, and, quite frankly, he was way too stoned to take out in public, but everyone else was there.  My dad and stepmom, Wendy and Chris, Zoomboy, Chicken, Mate and I, and, of course, Squish.

Squish.  Who got over her disappointment that these weren’t her usual seats and enjoyed the wiener-dog races like usual.  Note the purple King’s T-shirt added under the pink and peach colored dress.  She had matching tights, which she wore with black tennis shoes with rainbow laces.  She’s a fashion plate!

 The team lost–but not by much–and the game was close.  My parents were happy to be there, and my mom?  I hadn’t realized this, but in spite of MULTIPLE invitations from Mate, my step-mom had NEVER been to a game.  She enjoyed herself immensely.  (I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of her. She’s pretty damned stunning, and she and my dad are still a handsome couple:0)

Chicken enjoyed herself (she’s not pictured either–she was sitting directly behind me!) and as a whole?  When we came back to the house for presents and ice cream?  There were a lot of happy people on our hands.

Here’s hoping that Squish was the happiest one of all.  She got her build-a-bear, her pizza, her King’s game, and her family.  Mostly, she got to be the princess, and she got to be six.  She is still my dessert baby, still my surprise hug in the morning, still my squishiest, softest, snuggliest child.  Yesterday, after we got home from the dentist, and before we kicked ass on the house, Zoomboy asked me to sit down for cuddles (he insists I owe him for that week in New York!) and Squish got in on the action and slept on me for an hour, like she did when she was a baby.

She’s still my baby.  She’ll always be my baby.  She’s my Squish.

When I was one I had just begun.
When I was two, I was nearly new.
When I was three, I was hardly me.
When I was four, I was not much more.
When I was five I was just alive.
But now we are six, we’re as clever as clever
I think we’ll be six forever and ever. 


A.A. Milne