Bekah's Birthday

Before I had kids I never associated the age of the oldest child with the number of years of parenting experience that the mom and dad had. Now I experience feelings of unbelief at the fact that my oldest child has turned eleven...which means I've been doing this job for eleven years! I feel largely unqualified as a parent because I am still blindsided daily with new parenting challenges. I still yell and cry and let my children do things that I look back and wonder WHAT I was thinking. I'm sure parenting will be so much easier in hindsight.

Anyway...Bekah. My baby girl. ELEVEN! I expect cards of sympathy at having a pre-teen in my house! This girl is all sass and passion and drama, she feels nothing half-way. She can be or feel or act anyway she chooses - which is sometimes completely awesome and sometimes devastating. One moment she'll be gently encouraging Marianne to go play with her (and she'll stick with her for hours), and then another time she'll be crazy mad at me telling me I've ruined her life. Her saving grace is that she always feels sorry about when she's been mad, and she is so forgiving of me when I am totally reactive in an equally immature way. As challenging as she is to me, I don't think I'd change a thing about her. (Well maybe I'd have her be a more adventurous eater.) All of her will power, determination, stubbornness and passion will be excellent qualities when she one day decides to advocate for the whales, or starving children, or some equally desperate cause. 

She was lucky this year to celebrate her birthday with cousins. Madison helped Bekah pick out her very own pet hamster! She named her Princess and she adores her! Princess has a very cute cage with a hamster wheel and hut and a little tunnel that takes her up to a small compartment at the top of her cage. She also has a hamster ball and enjoys roaming the house in it, under close supervision of course. Bekah would probably say Princess is almost perfect: she just pees a little too frequently.

Luke, Preston, Hayden, Madison, and Grandpa and Cutesy all came for birthday dinner - lasagna - and dessert - angel food cake with chocolate fondue! These are terrible pictures, but they are the only ones I have...

Happy birthday, young lady!