A little something for B-cakes.

We've started a tradition. When its birthday time, we have the birthday child pick a small gift or two for the non-birthday child to open on the big day. This is for two reasons: first it gives the non-birthday child something to open and play with when the birthday boy or girl is working on a mountain of presents; and secondly it is a lesson in thinking about their sibling's feelings and being gracious and generous. This is the first year that we have done this, and it worked wonderfully. When it was B's birthday she was old enough to completely understand that she was picking a gift for C to open on her birthday and she put a lot of thought into it, helped wrap the gifts and enjoyed surprising him with them on her big day. C isn't quite old enough yet to understand so we just bought a couple small gifts for B to open on his birthday and told her they were from him. She was so excited about the doll "he" gave her and it helped smooth the tension and spread the joy that day.