Birthday Countdown

In 5 days my little girl will be 2. That means that 2 years ago I was sitting at home in Toronto, halfway through my official 10-day countdown, making half-hearted plans to watch the Superbowl that I would ultimately miss in favour of doing something just about as noisy but far more painful...depending on who you were cheering for, I suppose.

She totally gets it this year. Last year she appreciated it, she enjoyed it, but she didn't really get it. This year she has been asking about her birthday for weeks, since I first brought it up. She keeps asking where her birthday cake is, and if she would settle on a flavour it would really make my life a lot easier. We've gone from strawberry to chocolate to vanilla, and tonight it was back to chocolate, with the stipulation that Dada (whose birthday is later in the month) has a strawberry cake. How's that for covering your bases? She knows that it's different from Christmas in that she will be the only one to get presents. She knows that right now she is 1, but in 5 days (or 5 minutes, when she's feeling impatient) she will be 2. Sometimes she'll try to trick you by claiming she will be 4, or even 5, but upon further questioning she will issue a loud guffaw and say Noooooooo! in that tone of voice that says "Geez, and you guys are supposed to be the smart ones."

And she knows what this is:

It's a gift from Gramma Barby and Papa Ger, and for some reason when it arrived I decided to plunk it on the living room floor instead of hiding it in the darkest recesses of the closet. I'll be honest. I did it purely to torture her. I wanted to see what her reaction would be knowing that there was a gift for her that she couldn't open until her birthday. Cruel? Maybe. But isn't that one of the perks of parenthood? Or did I read the wrong manual again? At any rate, she has been surprisingly mature about the whole thing, unlike her mother. She wants it, but she hasn't once gotten even mildly upset about having to wait. Although my heart skipped a beat when I turned around this morning and saw this:

They sure are making awfully realistic-looking toys these days.

Once the felt knife failed her, she called on her limited jiu-jitsu skills...

But they proved no match for cardboard and tape. Guess she's just going to have to wait this one out.