Today is my actual birthday, but last Sunday we went to see Elephant & Piggie: We Are in a Play at the New Victory Theater. That was my birthday celebration. My mom pointed out that they were doing a sensory friendly performance, I saw it was the weekend before my birthday, and that’s what I wanted. No presents.

So we picked up my mom, drove into Manhattan, and met up with my brother, my sister-in-law, and my nephew CJ, who is 2 months younger than H. We had lunch, and looked at skyscrapers.

Elephant and Piggie are H’s absolute favorite books, they are in heavy rotation at our house. She knows a couple of them by heart. And, we just cracked up during the whole show. We’d read some of the stories so many times, Adam laughed almost as hard as H did. Which just made my birthday heart grow three sizes.

When the play was almost over, she said she really wanted to go meet Elephant and Piggie. This is new for her, she usually keeps her distance from characters. But she couldn’t wait, she was grumpy that she couldn’t go right up on stage during the play to meet them. But she got the idea, waited her turn in line after the show, and met the actors. She introduced herself and told them all about her “real puppy” Hamilton. Piggie approved of the name.

She even invited them over to our house to meet the dog. I just loved this so much. They told her she could ask Elephant and Piggie anything she wanted, so she told stories. And, she addressed them as their characters, together. “Hey, Elephant and Piggie, guess what! I got a REAL PUPPY! His name Hamilton!” And “Hey Elephant and Piggie! Do you want come my house and meet my puppy?” It was basically the best thing I have ever witnessed, I just love that kid so stinking much.

These two. Feels.

So, yeah, I had a pretty outstanding birthday before the actual day even arrived. I’m not sure I can top that today.