Her birthday was just the 6 of us. She requested unlimited screen time, McDonalds for supper, and a cake. I made her a little oreo cream cake, and the rest was easy to take care of.
That Saturday I threw her a birthday party where the requests were a little more specific- a mermaid themed party with a mermaid ice cream cake and a pinata. Party planning is not my forte, and googling any type of party freaks me out (seriously are there celebrities showing up to some of these kids parties??). But I managed to scrape together a few ideas. We had a mermaid treasure hunt, pin the tail on the mermaid, sugar scrub making, ate snacks, and had a pinata of course. That thing took a whole lot of beating before it broke open, and then it was chaos. The cake turned out better than I hoped actually, and Mia loved it. I was able to snag some silicone mermaid molds with tails and seashells off amazon for the cake, and found some edible pearl sprinkles to decorate the edges. We had such a fun time, and it went by so fast!
We had a crepe breakfast with our extended family, where she continued to be spoiled with gifts.
As part of her present, I took for for a mother daughter pedicure, and in her words it was "the best thing ever".
Mia's birthday interview
Favourite Movie: Cinderella
Favourite Show: Vampirina (I would strongly contend it's Ladybug and Cat Noir)
Favourite Song: Ladybug theme song
Favourite Animal: Horse
Favourite thing to do: puzzles
What's the best thing about being 6: having fun with people, and making new friends
What do you want to be when you grow up: ballerina, police officer, and dr
What's special about you: I help people
Mia is a spitfire girl full of personality. If you can imagine a cross between Anna from Frozen and Princess Mia from Princess Diaries- that's our girl. Enthusiastic about life, with an endearing naivete, hint of goofiness, plenty of spunk and determination, heart of gold, and a touch (maybe more) of clumsiness.
She has great concern for others, and even me coughing or saying "ow" will cause her to make sure I'm okay. If you're unwell, she is the one to get you an extra pillow, tuck you in, and wade on you hand and foot. She will also inspect any visible injury under the most intense scrutiny. She loves to pick at things like scabs and hangnails, but can't stand the sight of her own veins or the thought that she has bones in her body.
Speaking of intense scrutiny, one of Mia's lovable quirks is her "focus face". She was a year she would concentrate so intensely on things like books or toys that her eyes would cross and she would shake her hands. We assumed she would grow out of it, but it is still alive and well. She does it when she's watching shows, reading, colouring etc One day she was doing it in the van and Isaac said "Mia stop doing your focus face!". And that is how this little quirk was named.
She loves getting her picture taken.
She is generally unshy and very friendly. She makes friends easily and loves to have lots of them.
She loves to sing and dance. She has tutored her Scarlett well in imaginative play, and the two of them come up with the best little scenes with their barbies, ponies, dress up, and play kitchen.
She loves to colour, especially mandalas and patterns. 
All things glitter, sparkly, bejeweled, or bedazzled are right up her alley.
Her hair is all kinds of crazy. I can brush it and within 5 minutes, if it's not held back by at least 4 elastics, it looks like she just rolled out of bed.
She finally weighs over 40lbs, but since she is so picky, I have no clue how. She has to sniff and visually inspect pretty much everything before she eats it. She loves feta cheese, sour cream, and pizza, tacos, and chicken nuggets where she can eat nearly a whole 20 pack to herself (and no 20 is not a typo). She is slowly slowly starting to be able to try new foods and has in the last month eaten soup twice with seconds. I think there is hope for her!
She is in gymnastics right now and loves it. She started casually last year, and decided above all else that that was the extra curricular activity she wanted to take part in. And she is good at it.
She loves to help with B and will often cuddle with her, read to her, and sing to her.
Funny stories
Mia can be a little scatter brained sometimes. Mostly I think she is in her own little world and gets distracted by daydreaming. One day the bus driver that takes her in the morning (she has a different driver in the am than pm) told me she forgot to get off at the school the previous morning. He dropped the kids off (including her brother) and then went to drop off kids at his next school. He looked back and saw her ear muffs and asked her why she didn't get off. Her reply was "I forgot". So he had to drop the other kids off at their school, and go back to her school to drop her off. She actually didn't mention this to me at all when she got home that day. When I asked her why, she said "I forgot".
One morning, I got a call from the school while I was grocery shopping. It was only 15 minutes or so after school had started so I know idea why they were calling. Mia's teacher said she had forgot her coat on the bus, along with her mitts, when she got off and spent all morning recess (before the bell) outside (in like -10) without it. So I rushed home after groceries to dig out her brother's old winter coat and extra pair of mitts and raced it to the school. When I got to her class to drop them off I saw her winter coat hanging on her hook. Her teacher said she had forgot she had put her coat and mitts in her backpack on the bus (which is where I tell her to put her winter stuff if she takes it off), and somehow failed to remember they were in her backpack when she got off the bus. So she needlessly spent that morning cold for no reason.
For about a week before her birthday she had been asking "what day is it?" every morning, so she could determine how close she was getting to her birthday. On her birthday Scarlett and I woke her up by singing happy birthday to her. She slowly roused herself (imagine Anna waking up in Frozen if you've seen that movie a thousand time like we have), and then asked "what day is it?". Apparently our musical wake up call was not quite obvious enough haha.
Mia gets dropped off at the house from the bus, and for the first few weeks she would take her sweet time getting off the bus. I would usually meet her on the porch, but one day I decided to walk down to the bus and see what was taking her so long. The bus driver told me she was hugging every kid on the bus. From then on, I told her to just wave and blow a kiss to everyone haha.
Grandma was talking to her about her mum (Gigi), and Mia turned to her and said "your mom is real??" I think she meant alive, but she is well acquainted with her Gigi, so even that would have been strange. I guess she never made the connection about Gigi being her grandma's mum.
One morning I had to pick her up from the house to go to a birthday party. I was out so Gordon was in charge of helping her get ready, so I could just pick her up and go. She walks out in fancy boots, fur coat, and MAKEUP. I just pursed my lips in a concealed smile, and shook my head. The party was at the church, and no sooner had she set two fancy feet in the foyer (which is a tile floor), she slips and sprawls out face first on the floor in the most comical way. I barely barely managed to stop myself from bursting out laughing and she hastily stood up and yelled "I'm okay! I'm okay!"
I am grateful for her tenacious spirit and self confidence, and am excited to see what this year brings for her!
