Boxes of Love

Sophie is a lucky girl. In a span of two days, she got not one, but two big birthday presents from home. I probably should have waited till her actual birthday to let her have a go at them but we have so few toys here with us that I thought it would be nice for her to get a preview of things to come. Birthday presents have actually been trickling in for weeks now-- Dot, Jay, and Ruby were the first, then my best friend, Aileen, then Dan, Wendy, and the kids, and then Jude's parents. But those came all nicely wrapped up so I thought to save them for her birthday itself.

So the first box was from my family filled with presents for Sophie and also goodies for us (sadly, we're missing the packet of bah kwa-- pork jerky-- that the nice folks at customs and immigration apparently removed). There's an American Girl doll that my sister, Sherri lovingly carted from NY to Singapore and then packed to have it shipped all the way back here. I'm deathly afraid of dolls-- especially dolls whose eyes blink-- and my hands literally started trembling when I reached into the box for it. But for Sophie, I'd do anything, I guess. My problem now is that she loves the doll so much that she's already mussed up its hair, which means I might actually have to brush it- I'm not sure if that's something I can bring myself to do... Then there was a gorgeous scrapbook-worthy birthday card from both aunts- all pretty and happy :) Two lovely dresses (one of which Sophie's going to be wearing at her birthday party) and an ang-pow gift from Grandpa & Grandma rounded off the bounty for the soon-to-be birthday girl.

And yesterday, another big box arrived, this time from Jude's brother, Joe, his wife, Carol, and darlings Amelia and Aiden. We've been meaning to get Sophie a little play table for a while and their gift was just perfect. Bright and happy colours with just enough trinkets to engage her without being too overwhelming. They also got her an outfit which may say 2T but I have a feeling Sophie's going to grow into fast :) And Amelia, a true budding artist at 6 years old, made her cousin a card which just shouted love all over- too adorable!

Like I said, Sophie's a lucky girl- so much love from so many people, and her birthday's still 10 days away!

[Box of Love I and Box of Love II]