Not long after Harlowe turned 6, we gear up to celebrate another birthday in the family. Gunnar is just over four years younger, but as of the latest check-up, only 10 inches shorter and 10 lbs lighter. To celebrate, we took him out to eat his favorite cuisine, Mexican food, and then got ice-cream at TWO places: Van Leeuwen and Salt and Straw. Miss H dropped her ice-cream at the first stop, so we made a second stop to pick up more.
We decided that since Gunnar doesn’t understand what is going on in terms of celebrating his birthday, we wouldn’t have a party this year. We didn’t do one last year for him or for Harlowe’s 3rd or 5th birthday’s. We have found it to be quite liberating to take a break from the big celebrations and focus on spending time together as a family on kid’s birthdays; especially at ages when they aren’t yet expecting a more elaborate party. When Harlowe was young (age 1 and 2) I quickly figured out that extravagant parties were a bit too much for her. She liked everyone singing to her, but opening presents and interacting with each guest was a little overwhelming. She’s never cried at her own party, but I’ve seen plenty of younger kids cry when friends and family sing ‘Happy Birthday’ so I opted to skip that for Gunnar, at least while he’s little because he is sensitive. To make his day extra special, we went on a hike so he could run around outdoors, took a nap, ate tacos, rode scooters and then went out to dinner and ice-cream on Abbot Kinney. We let him the kids pick what they eat each year and this year, Harlowe chose for Gunnar proclaiming that hw wanted chips and beans. It was quite a day for him. After his bath, he fell asleep almost immediately.
G’s tee and pants / H’s leggings and top
