Leksa's Birthday!

Well, I'm officially caked out. Don't want to see another hunk of cake for the next ten years. Or at least until Adam's birthday! ;O)

We have a five year old! We've never had a five-year-old before! Except, I guess, when we met Liana. She was five for a few days after we met her. Leksa woke up so proud to be big now! Such a cutie. She got her crown, breakfast in bed, stroller and umbrella, packages and visits from the same people who came through for Liana. It was almost comical how similar their days were. Except that John had to work today and we didn't do mini-golf. Her cake was much prettier, however. I made it. I take that back... Aleksa got to stir the batter a bit, and got to dump the water in it for me. Much better. I frosted it while she and the others were outside playing. When she came in and saw it all decorated, she actually was so excited that she kissed the cake! (Hey, I'd rather eat her kissed cake than Liana's slimy-frosting mess. *shiver*)

In spite of how similar their days were, Liana has been jealous allll day long of the attention her sister got today. John says he saw it right away this morning when we had breakfast in Leksa's bed. He says Liana looked too quiet and contemplative.

This really has been the first time I've seen such an obvious jealousy between the girls. I'm surprised it hasn't come before, though. When people first meet the kids, they *always* tell us how adorable Aleksa is, and how sweet her smile is, etc., etc. I try to pipe up about all three of them, but people just don't see how horrible favoritism is. I really hope that Liana doesn't come to resent her little sister some day because of it. Some people just show it in body language (easy to do since Leksa is a snuggler), but Liana and Adam get the short end of the affection stick quite a bit from people outside our family. Drives me kinda crazy. Adam can't help that he isn't a cuddly pre-schooler, but he needs that affection just as much or more so than Aleksa. Liana can't help it that she doesn't give her smiles away to "just anyone." Not a whole lot I can do though. Aleksa is cute, and her sunny personality makes people really drawn to her. I can now really see how the favoritism at the orphanage happened. It is happening here in America!

Liana survived, but it really came out at church tonight. Whereas she started out quiet this morning in her jealousy, this evening she ended it at the top of her lungs. She pretty much acted like a monkey trying to suck everyone's attention to her. She was climbing on vehicles in the parking lot, laughing/screaming, shrieking, etc., etc. Pretty much, being a nightmare. She gets to call one lady in the morning to apologize for the car thing. (She had been asked to quit it, but the quarter had already been put into the nickel slot, and she had a hard time digging it out at that point...)

Looking forward to normal again. Birthdays are fun, but they are traumatic too! I don't like them getting older, and neither do their siblings! Let's just call off all the rest of them....