Dinah’s birthday was on Friday, and I had a dentist appointment that day. While we were in the elevator, Kyle told Dinah that she doesn’t get to turn five until she cleans up her room. She tried to tell him that that’s not how it works, it was really funny. Then after my girl scout meeting, we took the family to Olive Garden for dinner. She loves that restaurant and has been asking to go for such a long time. Yesterday she got to open her present and cards.
I have had Dinah’s birthday present wrapped and on the top of the book shelf for most of the YEAR. She has seen in there and has anticipated opening it and finding out what it is for a really long time. I confess, I was excited for her to open it as well. I just couldn’t wait to see her face when she saw what it was.
They are Hello Kitty mega blocks (similar to legos). Kyle and I saw them when we were out doing Christmas shopping last year, and I just KNEW she would love them.
Today, we sang to her and everyone had cake.
That is one very eager little girl.
Dinah is a very sweet girl, when she wants to be. She is also quite a challenge. I think back to when she was born, and the midwife commented on how skinny her umbilical cord was. They were concerned that it was missing one of the veins. After carefully examining it, they found all three. The cord also didn’t attach to the placenta in the usual way. It was attached only by a thin filmy something. I remember thinking that it could have been so easy for her to kick through that and she may not have made it to birth. Then I think of how as an infant she nearly starved to death. We took her in for regular well child check ups, but her weight was really low. I had to take her in frequently for weight checks. At every well child check up her percentile for weight got lower and lower. Just the night before her four month check up I remember changing her clothes and commenting to Kyle on how bony her chest looked. I said that I would ask about it when I took her in the next day. When I took her in for her four month check up she weighed less than she did when she was two months old. Her percentile for weight had dropped to negative 3, and that is when the doctor pointed out that there was a problem and we needed to switch to formula. I sometimes wonder, how much longer she would have lasted if we didn’t realize that there was a problem. Then I think of the time when she was two that she ran off, and it took us a couple of hours to find her. The longer it took us to find her, the more I started wondering if we would ever find her. This child is the reason that I have taken up running. She loves to follow her feet and has no fear, unless she needs to go to the bathroom and the light is off down the hall… But she is also very intelligent. She speaks in full sentences, sometimes with understanding beyond her years. She is always so full of energy, and can sometimes be rather funny. I am very grateful to have my Dinah in my life.