Happy Birthday Elvis

Today is Elvis' Birthday. No, not that Elvis, his birthday is January 8. My Elvis...the rat. She has lived with us for a year. She still has eye problems. Denise still doesn't like her. She shares the bedroom with us. She has "rat time" in the bathroom. She loves carrots, apples, broccoli, and yogurt drops. She doesn't like lab block rat food, she seems to like most parts of Reggie Rat rat food. She has grown to like the hammock I knit for her though I think she still prefers the ones I make out of old jeans. She likes oatmeal boxes the best to hang out in. Her one trick is to come for a yogurt drop. She catches colds, she scratches herself when she has too much protein or is stressed out. She also has a congenital eye problem, so she needs eye drops.
Wait, she has a better trick-she cons Denise into yogurt drops.

Here she is on her birthday with her "rat birthday cake" carrots, molasses (we were out of honey) sandwiched between white bread which I don't think she has ever had before, on a bed of oatmeal, with a yogurt drop cupcake topper.

(The scattered mess is spilled oatmeal. The mildew is a result of me not doing the bathroom lately (isn't Florida grand!)-Elvis and Denise are united in their hatred of mildewcide and I have been a bit under the weather so haven't fought them on it)

A Bouncing Baby Blessing's Birthday

Eleven years ago I gave birth to an 8lb 13oz baby girl. (tiny tear, no episiotomy, much nicer than her two siblings (both smaller at birth) to my nether regions believe it or not). She will tell you she likes to eat. She likes to scooter. She likes to read. She likes to swim. She can be wickedly funny and silly. None of these things particularly changed in the past year.

What she won't tell you is that she grows more beautiful inside and outside every day. She won't tell you that she is heartbreakingly kind and sweet. She won't tell you that she is her family and friends biggest cheerleader. She will ramble on and on (because she does ramble...taking after both her parents in that respect) about how special her siblings are underneath their pesty sibling exterior. It isn't reserved for just siblings either. She definitely will share the best of everyone with you. This child of mine isn't only observant but compassionate. At a party not long ago, a friend was feeling left out because she wasn't a member of the group. My sweet one went over to her, invited her to join in and then spent a considerable amount of time making sure her friend knew that she wasn't alone.

Such a beautiful, kind, loving heart that I worry. I worry about the broken hearts to come. I worry about her finding out that a friend saying mean things can hurt worse than a sister who pinches.

She is perhaps a typical 11 year old girl in her love of horses and animals. Her homes would be even more zoo-like if she were to acquire every pet on her list. More kittens! Puppies! Birds! Horses! and an assortment of smaller creatures. She loves to look at them and daydream about them. She researches their care. She considers carefully the perfect bird for her pet.

Now, I do have to take a moment from this love and sweet girl fest to say that she also is amazingly brilliant, smart as a whip and reads voraciously. She still reads above her spoken language and occasionally will use a word she has only read with a funny pronunciation or with a slightly off meaning.

My child...is also jaw-droppingly beautiful to look at. Truly stunning. Even if her bouncing, sweet friendliness didn't get you, her looks would.

Of course, even if she was dumb as toast and was dreadful to look at, I would still love her to death. The fact that I have the whole kit and kaboodle wrapped up in this one fabulous child...I am truly blessed.