Lana turned 7 last month, and I don’t think anyone in the world could fill my heart and soul quite like this one does. I love all of our children beyond words, but Lana has a sparkle that is rare. She twinkles through life like no one I have ever known.
She still loves art, space, and Nigh-Night with all her heart, and even though she needs to stop sucking her thumb, I told her Nigh-Night can and should be a lifelong friend. She enjoys life with everything she is, and watching her eyes light up when she’s having fun is one of the most joyous things I’ve ever witnessed. She adores Della and would follow her to the ends of the earth. She loves her little brothers, too, and I can tell how proud she is when she helps calm the babies and makes them happy. It sometimes takes a little prodding to get her to help, but she’s very good at it once she does.
This lucky little girl got a couple birthday celebrations this year. We started off by doubling our block party as a mini birthday party for her, and she got to invite 2 friends from school. The girls helped me make mini cupcakes again, and Lana decorated them with jelly belly beans. She wanted to do candy corns on top, but for some reason we couldn’t find any at the grocery store when we were getting the ingredients. So she chose the jelly beans instead because she said they looked like little ghosts. Perfect!
Then on her actual birthday she got to open one present before school. Ryan picked her and Della up from school that day and took them to pick out her requested sushi for dinner, then later that afternoon he took the big 3 down to the lakefront to watch the monstrous waves. They got ice cream at the custard stand down there, then she had a regular-sized cupcake that she decorated with 7 jelly beans for her birthday treat after dinner. A day full of treats, the best kind!
That following weekend, my dad came up and brought her a giant birthday cake from my favorite bakery in Peoria, so the parties continued! That Sunday was our neighborhood trick-or-treating, which is one of her favorite things.
At her parent-teacher conference a few weeks ago, her teacher said how smart she is in math, which honestly took me by complete surprise. She’s never really mentioned math at all, but once I took a closer look at her papers and quizzes, I realized she is really, really good at it. Her teacher also said how sometimes she gets distracted easily and it takes a couple tries to get her back on track, and I said oh yes, that is Lana to a tee. 😀 Her teacher had forgotten that Lana was #2 of 5 kids, and once she remembered that, she not only commented on how amazing I was (well yes of course, thank you very much, ha!) but how great Lana is for being one of 5 children. I said well, that’s just life now, and we’re living it! She said Lana is a great friend in class and that her name came up very often when the teacher asked other students who their good friends were, and that makes me happier and more proud than any math scores ever will.
Lana Marie Rau. Our human fairy. We love you so very, very, very much, my sweet baby girl. You and I are alike in so many ways, it makes my heart shine. Never ever lose your twinkle and goofiness – they make you so wonderfully you. Happy 7th birthday!! May this be your most incredible year yet!
