Birthday Walk

Today is Satvinder's sixth birthday. Birthdays at Satvinder's school are celebrated with a birthday walk for the child. The child has the opportunity to show and tell about a picture from each year of their life. Then for each year they hold a globe and walk around a lit candle (symbolizing the sun) while the class sings to them.

It is very sweet. And the picture sharing can be pretty amusing - because you just never know what a kid is going to decide to share publicly. I usually get teary at the birthday walk but this year, the tears I got were from laughter at the things Satvinder wanted to talk about. A couple of my favorite choices:

Age 1: Picture at Papago Park. What to share? Naturally, the part about how she used to call the mountains "Poop mountains because they look like a splat of poop." The funny part was that she whispered "poop".

Age 5: Picture of yoga at the ashram - photo by Kim Blake. What to share? "This was with Kim Blake. She has blue hair and she says she doesn't like kids. My mom thinks that is funny but I DON'T."

It is always fascinating to see what makes an impression and what comes to mind, when on the spot to share something. I shared on her "just born" picture - since, of course, she has no memory to share. What did I share? That she was born before the sun rose and that she was very pink - and that's how she got the nickname "Pinky".

Walking around "the sun"

Teacher Ninfa lead the class in singing Happy Birthday in Spanish. Satvinder loves Spanish with Ninfa.