Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Happy Birthday, Princess!

Clare turns four years old today! Happy Birthday!

We had a princess party (of course!) this weekend for Princess Clare. Shawn bought her a new Cinderella dress from the Disney store (her first "real" princess dress), and Clare truly looked like a princess. She has been so excited about her birthday and princess party for days. This was the first time I think that Clare understood it was her birthday, and she was so thrilled about the whole day. There were games (Kiss the Frog and Pass the Tiara), presents, a pinata, and a castle cake. Clare enjoyed the idea of the castle cake more than the eating of the cake - she is not a big fan of cake or candy, unless it's chocolate, but she loved looking at her cake. And she had fun goofing off with the cake for her friends!

I say it every year, but it's hard to believe that Clare is now four. Four just sounds so old. Where did my baby go?? Who is this big girl who looks so tall these days (relatively so!)? Clare is learning how to play games with Jamie (she especially loves her new animal match-up memory game from Auntie Becky, Jasmine, and Alex - we play it multiple times a day), she speaks in complete sentences the majority of the time, she even has a preference with clothing now. It is so exciting to see Clare growing up!

We received Clare's second trimester report card and IEP progress report yesterday. We are very pleased with Clare's progress at school, and it is obvious that she loves school, her teachers, and her classmates. And they love her, too! Last trimester, she received "Satisfactory" in all areas except for her attention span, where she received a "lower" designation. We were pleased to see she has moved up to a "Satisfactory" in that as well! (It's kind of odd to me the way her report card levels are grouped, but it goes "Mastered," "Satisfactory," and "Making Progress But Not At Expected Rate.") Her IEP review shows progress in all areas - speech, occupational, and physical therapies. Clare still has much to work on, but that is the point of school! She brought in cupcakes to share with her classmates and eagerly told us how they sang "Happy Birthday" to her at snack time. (And she informed us that her classmates sang "Happy Birthday, Clare" but that she sang "Happy Birthday, Princess!")

Clare also had her pre-op physical yesterday for her surgery next Monday, and she is good to go! Finally healthy! Let's keep her that way!

9 comments:

Michael and Michelle said...

Hooray! Happy Birthday Clare! Congratulations on turning 4 years old! It's great to hear how well she is doing in school.

Michelle said...

Happy Birthday Clare! She is so awsome and how fantastic she is doing so well at school!

Laura said...

Wow! I can't believe she's 4 already! She looks beautiful in her new princess dress. Michaela had a princess party on her 4th b-day, too!
Sounds like she's making great progress.

Nichole Fisher said...

Oh I can't believe she is four! She is the perfect princess and it sounds like she had a wonderful birthday. The progress stuff is just the icing on the princess cake (pun totally intended).

Aunt Joan said...

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!! You are a real princess - I saw you in your princess gown! I am so glad that you had a wonderful party, too! FOUR is so BIG! love, GreatAunt Joan

Christina and Tee Jay said...

I cannot believe she is four years old, either! Last night around 8:30PM, I thought about how it was just nearly exactly four years ago that I was sitting in your house with Erin and Jamie, waiting for news about "Baby Clare." It's amazing how time flies!

P.S. The castle cake looks great!!

Dawn said...

She looks beautiful in her princess dress! Happy Birthday!

Tammy said...

Happy Birthday Clare! You are the prettiest Princess I have ever scene! Tammy & Parker

Unknown said...

Well Miss Clair Happy Belated Birthday! It looks like you had an awesome birthday and we just love your princess outfit, you are one beautiful princess!!!