Growing (By The Minute)

It's great to be 5.

Mad [about cake] hatters agree.

It's great to be 5.

Against direct orders, they continue to grow and change and become these amazing people I didn't ever imagine when I gazed into their baby faces.

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I don't know what I imagined, but it wasn't this rowdy trip through the looking glass.

Happy Birthday to Grace! It's so great to be 5 that she spread her birthday, in Suite tradition, over a week or so of family and friend celebrations. Also a lot of ice cream. We mustn't forget the ice cream.

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Also happy happy fifth birthday to her partner in crime Headlong of Calamity fame. Note to new readers: Headlong's real-life given name is actually rather mainstream but his parents are protecting him from the stalkers who would certainly come after such a cute little farm boy. They would be sorry, however, when he and Grace immediately refused to be parted from one another and then got their usual retribution of pouring out all the products in the closest available bathroom. On one anothers' heads. Finishing with a good dousing of baby powder to make a gluey mess.

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Alternately the inseparable friends plot elaborate revenge on all of their collective siblings for being, well, older.

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But before the list of the new 5-year-olds' adventures overshadows the beauty of the moment, let me just say: It's great to be 5.