Sophie: 12

I was fine with Sophie growing ever upward - the knowledge of the inevitable "kids will be taller than me" was something that I knew from day one. But when I drew her new height line on the wall and it sat just two and a half centimetres under mine; wow was it suddenly all too real. 

Celebrations for this girl were a little strange this year. She did have a friend sleep over the night before her birthday, but woke up in the morning with a very runny nose kinda cold that Steve was sharing. So we cancelled the afternoon family gathering and just lay around the house, watching movies, playing games and generally being lazy. 

What we did get Sophie for her birthday though, was two tickets to see Six the Musical. So two weeks later, she and I hopped on a bus to the theatre. 

She was so excited to be seeing the show and I was excited to share it with her. Since I took her to see The Tiger Who Came to Tea for her third birthday, I have dreamed of many more such outings. We enjoyed the pre show hype and photo ops. She went halves with me in some merch (check out the shirt change below) and just generally got progressively more excited. 

Suffice to say, when things started she was grinning from ear to ear. It is fabulous show and so much fun to see it with her. Afterwards, we went to South Bank. Steve and Rachel drove in and we met some friends for a swim and BBQ dinner. It really did feel like we were finally having her birthday. 

Cake requested was chocolate with pink and green swirly icing. Yes, she really does love musicals.