Um, Happy Birthday?

There is only one thing worse than Saturdays in my opinion, and that is Princess Birthday Week. She's the one I try the hardest to please. It's a fairy party this year. I use "party" loosely. We've invited one friend. I am not insane, after all. But there is a fairy canopy and fairy treats and fairy favors and a fairyland cake and fairy costumes.

But beyond that, there are presents. And beyond THAT, there is the Annual Comparison of the Presents. Did I get as many as everyone else? Are they as big? Are they as good? Are they all exactly what I wanted? The answers, of course, are no, no, no, and no. No matter what. Knowing this, I even added "filler" presents, stuff she needed anyway, but it won't matter. She will open them and find them lacking. Not obviously. Her real self is a kind-hearted child, and she won't try to hurt anyone's feelings. She'll tell everyone thank-you. But nothing will be exactly right. Exactly right does not exist. There is never any way to win her birthday.

But I keep on. Hard.

One year, I wracked my brain, spent hours on e-bay, trying to find the perfect gift. The only things she asked for that year were toys the other children already had that I knew FOR SURE she would not play with. Finally, I found it. Buddy was into remote control cars at the time, so that was something she had mentioned. It was a remote control Cinderella carriage that steered intuitively with a glove. It was perfect. She opened it. Looked at it. Set it aside. Played with it one. Set it on a shelf. Two weeks later, Peanut threw it in a snit and broke it. Princess said, "that's ok. I didn't really like it anyway." Broke my heart. And I am not kidding.

This year, I did a better job on the gift. I grabbed her from school, took just her and I to Build-a-Bear. She loved it. The key was that it was not associated with her other gifts.

So tomorrow is her birthday. I already know it cannot possibly match up to her expectations. That's ok. I will keep trying to meet them. But I have lowered mine.