A very special day; my daughter’s birthday…

In a few days, my daughter will turn nine-years old.

Where has the time gone? At times, it seems as though I had just brought her home from the birthing center where she was delivered by my favorite midwife. That night, at home, I remember staying most of that night just watching her sleep.

For the most part, I’m keeping her birthday simple. She wants me to design brand-new outfits for her Monster High dolls. While she’s been sketching the designs, I’ve “pretended” only to be half interested. But I’m paying attention. She started sewing when she was six. She’s done an amazing job with the outfits she’s made, but at times she want’s a “professional sewer”, as she calls it. Sure, I can help out. I’ve designed clothing.

She’s also requested a few crocheted sleeping bags for her dolls. I guess I can do that too.

Of course I’m tricking her too…

I’m pretending not to work on her crocheted Coraline, to keep her in the dark… I want her to think Coraline will be unfinished for a long time. As fast as I crochet, I’m sure she knows something is wrong with that statement. But then, I’ve thrown her off with the numerous projects I’m crocheting.  I’m such a bad mommy, eh? 😉 In reality I’ve been working on Coraline while she’s been away at school. At the latest Coraline should be complete by Saturday.

The ultimate gift for her

But, I do believe the best gift will be the Canon Elura 100 MiniDV Camcorder. It used to be mine, but it’s something I haven’t used in about three years. It still looks like new. I take good care of my items. Whatever interests my daughter, I encourage. Besides drawing, sewing, and reading, another of her activities is stop motion animation.

For the past year,  she’s been recording her stop motion animation on her Nintendo DSi. Sewing, acting out stories she’s created, and stop motion animation are the only reason my daughter plays with her dolls. I enjoy watching her creativity, and encourage her to do more.

More importantly, I know she’s at the age where she won’t damage this gift.

 Crocheted beanie hat for Monster High Doll; Frankie Stein

What is Stop motion animation?

Stop motion animation brings still objects to life by physically animating them. The main source of the stop motion animation is her Monster High dolls.

By the way that crocheted beanie hat was one of the first items I crocheted, no pattern, just playing around with crochet stitches.

I think it’s time to give her a upgrade to a real video camera. This is a great camera, it’s something I spent my time researching before I settled upon it in 2006, and it will work perfectly for her all her video needs for quite some time.

Video Editing

I guess this means that my daughter will be using my video editing software; Final Cut Pro X. She’s looked over my shoulder numerous times, while I’ve done video editing, so she already gets it; but I know I’ll still have to walk her through some of the video edition process. I must say; I’m looking forward to whatever she comes up with.

Her own domain

I’m also thinking about giving her an url when she’s out of school.

I’ll host it under my personal hosting service. She had a blog when she was six years old. Not too many people knew about it outside of family, and a few friends. But at her new site, she’ll be able to post her videos, observations, and perhaps share some of her stories too? I still have her old site content saved, so most likely I’ll just move that information to the new site.

Giving thanks

I usually don’t spend too much on gifts. It’s something I learned from my parents, and it’s a habit I practice to this day. As I’ve told her, just be thankful that someone has thought enough of you to give you something.

In reality, this birthday her “gifts” won’t cost that much… I already had a like new video camera. Also, I have plenty of yarn and fabric. The main thing required is time. Hmm… that can be challenging. Time is precious, and it can be difficult making time to do various things.

But I determined, before she was born, that the expression my mother would say about some people…

“Long on promises, short on time,”…

Wouldn’t apply to my daughter. I’ll make the time; she’s worth it!