Double Digits

I'm so excited, and majorly creeped out that tomorrow is the Tot's TENTH birthday!!  I have no idea how an entire decade just passed by!  I'm pleasantly surprised at how amazing she has turned out--considering I can't keep a house plant alive...

The tot has blossomed into a beautiful, thoughtful, helpful, respectful, humorous, smart, talented, and let's not forget the obvious...CRAZY ten year old.

I remember vividly MY 10th birthday and so badly wanted to recreate it for the Tot....probably still will throw something together tonight .... because in retrospect it was HILARIOUS....and made me realize how bratty I was....

Scene:

All of my friends over for a sleepover....it's gift time....all year I had begged for a cabbage patch kid .... I KNEW I was getting it...KNEW it!  My dad enters the room holding a box NOT the size of a cabbage patch kid box....I had scoped out PLENTY of dolls at the store and my stomach sank.  Then it dawned on me that he was pulling the ol' put it in a different box to trick me trick.  Sure enough...as I peeled off the paper it was evident this was NOT a cabbage patch doll box....no problem...I was still confident he was going to come through for me.  The box had the picture of a waffle maker on it...aaaaand as I thought about it more and more...waffle makers are WAY smaller than cabbage patch dolls.  I hesitantly opened the sealed box (clue 2 this was not going to go my way)......What....the...... it WAS a waffle maker.

Mass confusion....and fear...and nausea came over me.  I completely disregarded the group of witnesses and continued on to have a full blown tantrum about the waffle maker.  I HATED waffles (truthfully I love them...but you can't make someone feel bad if you tell them that)....I carried on to tell him I loved pancakes and that pancakes were way better and that Robin (sister) was the one that loved waffles.  WORST BIRTHDAY EVER!!! 

I refused to accept the waffle maker and my dad must've been worried one of the party goer's knew how to contact social services so he walked out of the room, after giving me the glare of DEATH, and reentered with a new package....this one the size and shape of a legit cabbage patch doll....in deed he pulled through for me and I got the doll I had begged for.  Awkwardly I thanked him and attempted to restore my image for my friends....but trust me...I felt like a major dick. 

Back to the Tot's bday....for the past year she has been planning her 10th bday present--an American Girl Doll....for months we had to look through catalogs and page through their website.  She agonized over what doll she should get.
This past weekend her day finally came....we went down to the American Girl store in Chicago....and it was great.  Tay was glowing she was so thrilled and so excited...and unlike me...extremely grateful. 

Tonight at dinner I was talking to Taytum about her birthday and how amazing it is that she's ten and asked her what her favorite memories of her 1st decade were...I thought this would be cute and of course...funny....she didn't give me much to work with but was reliable in the expected humor dept.

"Tay what are some of your favorite memories over the past ten years?"
"seriously?"
"um...yeah...what are they?"
"I don't even remember last month and now you want me to think about TEN YEARS" (wow). "I guess if I have to pick something I would say turning 5."
"okay...why that? What happened when you turned 5?"
"Well it's 1/2 way to 10...."
"ok"
"or eating ribs....yeah eating ribs."

Hahaaa she is OBSESSED with ribs....as I'm sure you know if you've read any of the other posts.  Needless to say Taytum makes EVERYDAY interesting and we have a ton of crazy fun.  Can't wait to see what the next decade brings....although I have a feeling I will be increasing my weekly intake of wine :)