So about my baby. Yes, I mean my CoCo Shea who recently asked me to stop calling her Ma’am. As in:

Corra: Mom, can I play games on the iPad?
Me: No, Ma’am.
Corra: Mooooommmmm….Don’t call me that!

You know the one, my mini-me. She just turned nine and is still lamenting the fact that she is the youngest. That of course means she is the last to get to do all the cool stuff (namely dye her hair and have her own mp3 player…those are 10 year old things). Being the birthday girl and getting to choose to go camping, and bring the boat, and take her dad out shopping for supplies, and get to decorate her own cake went a long way towards helping with the lamentations.

On the morning of we dined on pumpkin cinnamon rolls (hallelujah it wasn’t pop tarts) and then she and Neil went off for camping supplies. If you recall her big birthday present was a brand new bed and room make over, but she also got to pick out Sonic the Hedgehog bed sheets. When they got home we got the white chocolate decorations for the red velvet cake made and the cake layers baked.

Oh and I may have lost my mind and relented to the never ending pet crusade. They also came home with Sunburst. I’ll tell you more about her in a later post.

Camping happened Friday night (more below) but Saturday I built the cake, got a base layer of cream cheese frosting on it, then turned over the icing bags to Corra. It ended up more minimal that I was expecting…She’s maturing as a cake decorating artist.

We loaded up the gear and raced to pick up our oldest monkeys from school. Then we headed straight to the site. True to form as a mean mom, I made them set up the tents and eat dinner before going in the water. Tatanka loved all of the above and was even well behaved when other dogs walked by. The water adventurers roasted marshmallows for s’mores as the evening wound down. The hammock was enjoyed and I read them funny baby stories until bed time. The night wasn’t awful and the birthday girl declared her special day a success. We had to jet home to brace for a crazy Saturday, but enjoyed a lazy Sunday with dinner at G&G’s house.

The candles were the finishing touch (especially the sparklers) and the presents were all hits.

Once again on this anniversary of a new parenting oppurtunity, I’m struck by how good Neil is at being a dad…right now, specifically her dad. I’m her favorite and when there is a crisis she needs me. But her dad is the one who facilitates the adventures that feed her soul. He opened the door to making computers do cool stuff, making yarn turn into a rug, and drilling the karate katas she needed for her green belt test today (she passed like a boss!). He does so much more for her and I can’t wait to watch how their dynamic deepens and grows as she gets older. My baby lights up my world. And terrifies me. This year she is breaking my brain as a study in extremes. She can’t fill her time without Naomi, but she is reading novels independently. She can’t sit and focus for school, but she sat for 3 hours working on an art project. I’ve revisited tips on the ADHD brain (she doesn’t have a diagnosis…there are just a lot of similarities). I armed myself with a yoga ball and fidget toys and a better point of view, so I’m ready for anything she can dish out. I’m excited again and ready to step up and be who she needs me to be…goodness knows, she’s everything I need her to be.