City of mystery, of enchantment . . . (quote it with me, sister . . .)
and of all things Princess Jasmine!
Over the last few months, Shaelyn has become obsessed with that often-overlooked 90's cartoon heartthrob. I have my suspicions that it is mostly due to the fact that she has a classmate this year by the same name, but she assures me this is not the case.
Either way, she has been planning her "Jasmine Birthday" since September. She drew me a picture of what her party should look like. She designated her "cast of characters" who should be present - and for some reason, she wanted Mommy to be the Genie. I guess 'cause Daddy had to be Aladdin. Rachelle was allowed to be Rapunzel, since we all know that the Princesses are all best friends and hang out on a regular basis. And Christian, who was assigned the part of Abu, luckily slept through the whole thing.
I believe everything met with her approval. She was pretty happy to wake up as a 5-year-old girl that cloudy Monday morning. She was very excited to bring Jasmine (and Genie) cupcakes to school to share with her friends. She was surprised to open a new outfit - including shiny, glittery, loud, and completely Shaelyn-worthy boots - before school that morning. And of course, she got her Jasmine doll, as well as a few change of clothes (that included her modest purple dress).
I was happy with the birthday celebrations as well. I actually went to bed at midnight the night before her birthday - unheard of! Michael was a great co-contributor and co-party host. He was, quite possibly, as excited as I was. After 10 years of living with my big emotions, I'm finally rubbing of on him. And he's rubbing of on me too - helping me see easier and faster ways of doing things, without giving up on the project completely.
Perfect example: the Palace cake. After viewing images online of various Jasmine-inspired cakes, I had decided that I would make towers out of ice cream cones and tower tops out of cupcakes with a fondant frosting peaked on top. While making out my shopping list for said items, I glanced at the Christmas tree and had a "Michael idea." What if instead of fondant and ice cream cones and cupcakes, I used toilet paper tubes and gold ornaments? Bingo! It turned out gorgeous and saved me at least an hour of agony.
At the party, we made magic carpets, colored Jasmine characters (to fly on the magic carpet), rode a magic carpet ourselves, played musical magic carpets, searched for treasures of silver and gold in a sand pit (that had nothing to do with a magic carpet), and laughed at the ridiculous Genie. My mom even mailed me her authentic Genie lamp that she's had ever since I was a little girl. Shaelyn opened that package very wide-eyed. It was fun to see Shaelyn play with something I had loved so much as a child.
Now that Shaelyn is 5, she's constantly saying things to me like, "Is this what 5-year-olds do Mommy?" or "I think 5-year-olds like this" or "Now that I'm 5, I can ________." She is very age-aware. Which makes me very age-aware. And I'm very aware that her baby-hood is behind her. Yes, she is still very much a child - I'm not naive enough to think that she's a big kid yet - but there is something different about a 5-year-old. It really does feel like the beginning of the end. I've been trying to come to terms with that over this last week. And this sentimental girl's been having a hard time with it.
I guess watching myself make a complete fool of myself for the entertainment of a bunch of 4, 5, and 6-year-olds helps to take my mind off those more depressing thoughts. And reminds me that there is still a lot of magic to unveil to my quickly-growing-up girl. It gives me hope that the best is still yet to come.
