Leia's Celebration of Life

Today at school, everyone celebrated Leia Rose's upcoming birthday in the traditional Montessori fashion: with the Celebration of Life. I had to include this picture first, because you can really see the beautiful crown Leia Rose decorated just for the occasion. (This is also a really good view of her sequined "inside shoes" that she loves so much.)

First, Leia Rose got to administer the very special "birthday stamp" that she had mentioned looking forward to specifically. (This was funny to me because it's just a simple little red stamp, but she made a big deal of asking Mrs. Schnell if she could do it herself, . . . and it is a stamp that you are only allowed to wear once a year.)
Then Mrs. Schnell arranged the months of the year around a special tray containing one large candle representing the sun, and five small candles representing each year of Leia's life. (In the picture, Leia Rose is explaining something about candle fire to the class, . . . she always has a fun little story about everything.) : )
As the candles are lit, the special "Story of Leia Rose" is read by Mamma while Leia Rose walks the "earth" around the "sun" five times while a child of her choosing (Jessica, of course!) : ) walks around with the picture we brought in, one for each year. The "Story" is a template that the parents fill in. Here it is:

The Story of Leia Rose

Leia Rose was born on October 26 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina of the USA in North America on the planet Earth. She had to be held and taken care of all the time, couldn't talk to tell mom or dad what was needed, had to wear diapers, drank lots of milk and slept most of the time. By 10 months Leia Rose said her first word which was "doggie." At one year old Leia Rose learned to walk and could use short sentences like "all done" and "book read." At two years old Leia Rose learned to climb out of the crib, so she moved to her "big girl" bed. Her favorite things were three stuffed animals: a kitty named Smudge, a kitty named Little Boy Hans, and an Elmo named Frau Washerwoman. When Leia Rose was three years of age, she came to Artgarden Montessori school, could talk in whole sentences, run, ride a tricycle, and loved doing the table and chair washing work. Now Leia Rose is five years old! She can read lots of words and write her name all by herself. Her favorite color is pink, her favorite food is macaroni and cheese, and her favorite thing to do is to play with and read about DINOSAURS! (and love her little sister, Annie)

Then they sing a special birthday song (see below), and Leia Rose blows the candles out, . . . which took about 30 puffs by the way. : )

Then the child distributes special napkins and cupcakes brought in by Mom and Dad. (The whole family attends the ceremony, by the way . . .)
Annie participated to, . . . along with her most coveted Cherry Chat Chat Cat.
What a very special celebration! It made me sad to think that this was the last Celebration of Life that Leia Rose would ever participate in (in that it's not part of traditional school). I'm sure she'll remember this celebration for the rest of her life.