There were gifts, of course, which she opened first thing (she was born in the wee hours after all): a skateboard, a sequin flip shirt of an artist's palette, a neon green soccer ball, a Lego set.
So what is Fiona like at nine?
Music: I think she'd be hard-pressed to say she has a favorite, but Megan Trainor is her go-to.
Favorite color: Turquoise -- in fact, we painted her room that color this summer
Style: She finally let me cut a good three inches or so of her hair just before school started. It's still quite long. She likes to wear it down, though she likes a side ponytail for photos. She wears t-shirts and shorts or jeans for the most part, and flip-flops or sparkly silver sneakers. As the weather gets cooler, she's been gravitating to some pretty cool black boots. Dresses are a thing of the past.
Books: Graphic novels---Smile, Sisters, Ghosts, RollerGirl, Real Friends, The Babysitters Club, Big Nate, etc, on repeat. She is overwhelmed by chapter books and largely avoids them, though sometimes if I start reading a book aloud to her (like The Pain and the Great One) she'll get sucked in and finish it on her own.
TV: Baking shows, amazing home shows, lots of kids movies (Despicable Me, Boss Baby, Storks, Smurfs, etc.). The kids watched Star Wars: A New Hope and she dug it (Rowan abandoned ship partway through because it was too scary), but it seemed to satisfy her curiosity for now. Hasn't gotten into Harry Potter, though we tried the books.
Fiona is a complicated soul. She loves sports but generally doesn't want to participate in them. She was excited to sign up for another play but now dreads going to rehearsals. She is feisty and fearful, tenacious and easily frustrated, tired but refuses to go to bed (and has a hard time waking up in the morning). She has an amazing sense of humor and loves to experiment with accents and voices. She tends to need some sort of roughhousing every day, whether with Rowan or me, and this need tends to come out right around bedtime. She's come a long way, however, with being able to say goodnight and let us go, no longer clinging and desperate for us to stay like she once was. She loves to read but says she hates writing. She loves art and creates beautiful things---characters, lettering, cards. It's still a lot of work for Fiona to get through the school day; she comes home emotionally exhausted and tends to still need a good meltdown each day. She's getting braver, occasionally walking home from her new school by herself and hanging out solo while I pick up Rowan at his school. She says "I love you" a lot (to her parents) and is a really kind, responsible person. She's making new friends at her new school and she's joining art club and she's seriously considering buying lunch but is afraid she won't like what they're serving. She thinks when she turns ten it'll be one of the best days of her life. When she grows up, she thinks she'd like to marry a girl, and if she has a baby, it'll be through adoption because she's heard that childbirth is painful.
So yeah, complicated. Complicated and wonderful. We love her right back.