Maria had her wild and crazy fifth birthday party – and now we have a picture. Here are a few of the highlights in no particular order.
She got a bubble machine which (sort of) blows bubbles automatically. It has a button to turn it on and Maria was enjoying it as I turned it on and off. Then she reached out very deliberately and pushed the button to make bubbles! It was very cute.
Cathy stacked her gift bags next to her for pictures. At one point Maria suddenly seemed to notice them, turned, tipped one over and started pulling stuff out. One of her presents was a set of adaptive crayon holders so she can draw. They were still in the package and she tried to tear the package open. She realized the box itself wasn’t the toy but could see stuff inside and was trying to get to it. It’s all part of a pattern she’s had over the last couple of weeks where she is more aware of objects in her universe, seeing and manipulating them on a much higher level than she was even a month ago.
We put a cupcake with five lit candles in front of her for pictures. Let’s see: fire, vision impairment, motor impariment, curious five-year old…what could possibly go wrong? Maria reached out and knocked the plate over, sending the burning cupcake rolling across her tray and the flames licking across her elbow. I got the candles away in an instant but from the expression on her face and the smell of burnt hair I guess our little girl learned “fire hot”.
Sue called from the hospital to sing Happy Birthday to her and Maria was clearly happy to hear her voice. They haven’t seen each other in at least ten days and they miss each other terribly. Sue should get out of the hospital today. She’s thinking she’ll be back caring for Maria in 3-4 weeks, and we’re thinking probably not but we’ll see.
Happy 5th Birthday Maria! Look forward to seeing some photos!
Love the photo!