Birthday Recap

A little over a month ago we celebrated LBean's 6th birthday.  I read a quote once that I think sums up the experience a parent has with young children, "The days go by so slowly, but the years go by quickly."  I shouldn't have a six-year-old, she was just born, right?!

It seems that we gravitate towards Disney show themes.  Last year LBean celebrated with a Jake and the Neverland Pirates party and this year we had just discovered a new show Doc McStuffins.  Through the magic of the internet and Apple TV we have been downloading Doc McStuffins episodes and enjoying some new TV at our house.  LBean agreed that this would be a pretty neat birthday party, especially if we transformed our apartment into a doctor's office and let her friends bring dolls to play with.

Her entire Girl Scout troop and some siblings were able to come and enjoy a day of playing, watching an episode of Doc McStuffins, and munching on some yummy treats.  Instead of traditional gift bags, I decided that each girl should take home their own "doctor kit".  I assembled kits (with a little help from Papa Joe & and an incoming expat family importing a few things) that had real bandaids, felt bandaids, medicine droppers, ACE bandages, cotton balls and all of the kid medical exam sheets I discovered on the internet.  The medical checklists were a great excuse to run to the local printer and to the neighborhood center to buy a laminator, too!

My girls are still playing doctor with their kits.  I just posted on Facebook a conversation I heard this week during playtime.  "LBean you have to take care of your animals, they are waiting for you." "Yes, this one was in an E-bike (electric bike) accident."  And, "I don't have time to see patients, I need to go to the copy market".  The copy market just happens to be where I go to buy knock-off purses and sunglasses, inexpensive scarves and other Chinese trinkets!

Here are some pictures from LBean's special day:

Checking in at the "front desk"

The "exam room".  Each girl had their own
doctor's badge too.

Time to check the patient's eye sight!

Going over the checklists.

Taking care of the babies.

Mesmerized by the television!

Playing medical BINGO.

LBean's cake was heart-shaped with a
stethoscope on it.  She asked that her friends not sing
Happy Birthday to her (which is on par with her personality).
So, they stood behind her and just said "Happy Birthday"
and posed for a picture.

LBean opened her presents in the "waiting room".

At the Suzhou fabric market I had
a dress-up veterinarian's jacket copied in white
so LBean and EBean could have their own doctor's
jackets to wear to the party.  Mine was a left-over from
my hospital clinical rotation in graduate school!