Today was Silvia's birthday celebration at her pre-school. Aaron, myself and Miriam joined her. She specifically asked for Mim to join her, and wanted to include Mim in several of the activities.
Firstly, I was kvelling the whole way there today. My little girl turned 4! And she has adjusted to a year in a new country, learned a new language entirely, and made new friends. Amazing, I was thinking.
Enough kvelling on a public blog, right?
The order of the birthday celebration at her gan:
First, birthday songs. Lots of them. Kids and musical instruments involved.
Next, she walked in circles in the middle of the classroom, with the kids all sitting in a semi-circle around her.
Silvie leads a train of kids around the room (to music.)
Next, Silvie dances with her parents.
Silvie then hands out flowers to her friends and they sing "Erev Shel Shoshanim" while waving the paper roses. It was sweet. It is also the song that we walked down the aisle to at our wedding, so sweet on another personal front as well.
Silvie gets to sit in the middle of the parachute and also under it while her friends pull it up and down.
Her class dances around Silvie and she sits on a chair and is raised up high (like at a Jewish wedding.)
Silvie has to make a game that a parent has to follow, walking on blocks. She chose me.
Aaron reads a story to the class. Silvie and I illustrate it with puppets. It is May I Bring a Friend, and is the same book I read as a kid and took from my Houston home to share. I'm glad she chose that book; that was really meaningful to me.
Silvie gets a present from the class. Lots of show around that.
Candles and cupcakes!
This whole thing took over an hour and was quite the choreographed event. It really says to me that the Israeli culture likes choreographed programs, show and pageantry. Every one of her 23 classmates celebrates their gan birthdays in just this manner.
Silvie LOVED it. She was, as always, quite reserved, but so, so happy. The crown she is wearing is a "garland of flowers" that is mentioned in the Hebrew Happy Birthday song, and we made it for her birthday.
For Silvie, the happiest thing that she could do was to give to her friends. She was SOOOO happy handing out the cupcakes (that she made last night with us!) and SOOOO happy handing out the birthday gifts to all her friends. She got to give a present to all of her friends, and it made her extremely happy. We couldn't be happier that she loves to give. It really is true to her nature.
Her English birthday is Sunday, and we will have a small party on Sunday. More pics then!
