The Fickle Four-Year-Old

It was the release date for the much-anticipated Apple iPhone and the movie Ratatouille. It was also Morgan's 3rd birthday: June 29, 2007. The day began the way a normal 3-year-old's birthday does, but that didn't last long. At work, I got the call from Melissa: "Morgan broke her arm; Morgan broke her arm!" During the normal part of her birthday, she opened her Tinkerbell Polly Pocket. Like a normal little girl, she stood up on top of her bed to get as high in the air as possible, because Tinkerbell flies, of course. But Tinkerbell Polly Pockets fall out of little girls' hands, too, and a 3-year-old doesn't stop to think that it would probably be a bad idea to dive off the bed trying to catch Tinkerbell.

That was Morgan's third birthday. She spent it having surgery on her arm and got to have a sleepover with Mommy at Primary Children's Hospital. I'll never forget her whimpering while clutching her mommy as the anesthesiologist came to remove her from her "safe" place to take her into surgery. With her good arm, she clung tighter, and with her perfectly good lungs, she sobbed louder. We consented to the anesthesiologist's request to administer a little laughing gas. Within seconds, Morgan started laughing and cheerfully allowed the strange man to take her in his arms and whisk her away. Makes me wonder sometimes if we wouldn't all be a bit better off with just a little laughing gas!

Having her 4th birthday party reminded me of the events of that fateful day last year. This year, there were Polly Pockets, too, but no broken bones, thank goodness. Just a normal little girl's birthday with princesses and horses—Webkinz and Breyer horse stuff, Barbie and Polly Pocket princesses, and of course, the princess nightgown.

What do you get a 4-year-old who has a gazillion hand-me-downs from two older sisters? These days, I think Barbies, Polly Pockets, and "horsies" are pretty standard because she let us know long ago and many times that's what she wanted, but other than that, all she wanted was a pink room. So, here we go and get the paint and the matching bedding, and Melissa even started working on what it would take to remove the princess wallpaper from her room. Then, a couple days before her birthday, she decides she doesn't want a pink room. I guess the fickle woman starts young! We kept the pink paint and bedding because just as sure as she changed her mind before, she'll change it again!