Happy New Year!

At our house, New Year’s Eve is Edie’s third birthday. When we talk about her birthday, Edie always thinks it will be tomorrow. Our new way of measuring when a birthday will happen is to say that Edie’s birthday comes after Carter’s birthday and before Clara’s birthday. She is beginning to understand before and after. Dinner comes before dessert. Edie goes to bed after she puts on her pajamas.

For a few years, Edie can think that the whole world celebrates her birthday with fireworks and parties and hats and trumpets. Maybe when she gets older she will want to celebrate her birthday some other time of year, like April. That way she can have a birthday party that is only hers and not the whole world’s. There is no rule that says we must celebrate her birthday on the actual day she was born. Time is funny that way. When Edie is seven we will see how she feels about her birthday and what she understands about time.