Five!

So here we go again... blah blah blah... Happy birthday Mimi... blah blah blah... Mum and Dad love you very much... blah blah blah... You are a big girl now... blah blah blah...

Except that there is no blah blah blah.
No boredom.
No fatigue.
No dreadful feeling of deja vu.

A very happy birthday to you Mimi.
Mum and Dad do love you very much.
You are a big girl.

We hope that you enjoy your dog- that-doesn't-crap (it was EUR25 extra for that and we were a bit stretched).
I had it hidden under Carlos' desk for two weeks and it kept barking at anything that moved (bloody motion sensors). It was only normal that the batteries would die on the day before presenting it to you.
Thankfully I had spares.

You are a great girl and you are doing extremely well for your first year in a very demanding school. You've made loads of friends and you are always happy to play, and learn, and act as a personal dictator for Finnzy-Bob, and you spend hours with your books teaching yourself how to read.
Finnzy-Bob absolutely adores you and his admiration for you is boundless.
Luca tolerates you without too much moaning and that's quite a massive achievement (considering how irritated he gets by the sounds produced by his little brother).

Tomorrow is party time, and even though kiddies birthday parties do not rate very high on my Must Attend list (somewhere between root canal treatment and splitting of the bill at the end of a meal with 14 accountants), I know just how important it is for you and I am sort of looking forward to it, in a masochist sort of way.

We are so incredibly proud of how happy and well-rounded and bright and funny and no nonsense you are.