Elephants Never Forget

One of Lena's favourite things to do is make up stories, and tell them to whoever will pay marginal attention to her ramblings (usually me). The other day, Lena's story went something like this:

Lena: Once upon a time, there was a princess, and she was pretty and beautiful. And it was a birthday. And she had a party and it was so much fun. And she had all her friends, called brother and someone else, and they jumped and jumped and jumped on all the colours. And she played on a horse. And they did more jumping. And it was fun. And then they had balloons, and the princess had a pink one, and the brother had a green one, and the other person had a blue one. And then they had cupcakes. And they were so yummy. And they were birthday cakes, because it was a princess birthday. And they had chicken nuggets . And they watched a movie.

Me: Hmmm... that's nice. What movie was it?

Lena: Umm... 'How To Train Your Dragon'. And it was the best birthday ever. And the princess was so happy.

At which point, I actually started thinking about what she had just told me, and slowly realized that she was recounting her last birthday, almost a year ago. We took the kids, and one of Lena's friends, to 'Jump On It', a warehouse filled with trampolines, brightly coloured crash mats, and bouncy slides. When they were there, Lena had a turn on a plastic horse ride. On the way home we got them Happy Meals, and we went to a cupcake store and got a dozen brightly coloured gourmet cupcakes (much better, IMO, than making a million cupcakes like I've done for previous birthdays). We got three helium balloons, a different colour for each child (I think Lena actually got the colours right, too) and then they watched 'How To Train Your Dragon'.

Lena had remembered not only that she had had a birthday party, but details about the party that I had even forgotten. I was impressed. My mind was blown. I simply could not believe she had remembered that far back.

I guess Evan and I need to be more vigilant about censoring the things we say and do in front of our kids...

And to prove that it all really did happen (and I suppose, better late than never)...

(Apologies for the poor quality... Man, it was dark in there...)

(Why, yes, Lena did throw a tantrum as we were leaving to get a ride on the plastic horse. We caved... it being her birthday and all...)