future dorkdom

today was a really good day.  we celebrated cleo turning 5 with friends and family at her snazzy alien party.  i think it went well and cleo seemed to love it so i'd say it was a success. (other than flynn basically breaking his nose and my homemade slime being a total dud, i think a good time was had by all.)   

i've been a little emotional today thinking about my baby turning 5. i know she's still a wee one in the scheme of things but 5 feels like a transition into a whole new phase.  she's a bona fide kid now.  the earliest years of her childhood are behind us.  i'm happy, of course, to see her grow and progress, but i already feel that tug tug knowing that one day she won't think i'm the coolest for wrapping our entire conversation pit in tinfoil and busting out cheesy alien dance moves.  i will just be dorky mom.  i know that kind of distancing is coming, so i'm trying hard to hold on to these moments and these memories.  

in this vein, i wanted to share a really cool book i've been reading called the creative family by amanda blake soule.  the book is basically all about ways to awaken your family's creativity through art, crafts, and family celebrations.  it's a little bit earth mama crunchy at times, but i really enjoyed the basic message and felt inspired by many of the ideas.  one of the things i loved, and hope to implement at our house, is the idea for parents to write children yearly birthday letters, summarizing great things they accomplished or just little memories or sayings from the year.  i'm not very good about writing down the amazing things that pop out of cleo's mouth because i always assume i will remember them. but, i already know that my memory is faulty and so many details of her first 5 years are already lost. i'm hoping the letter will give me at least a once a year written record!   i love the idea of holding on to these letters and "gifting" them to cleo when she's 13 or 16...sometime down the road when she might better enjoy the dorky things mom has to say.  

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