Birthday dysphoria?

[foxkits]

Oooo congrats! I hope it's something fun! I hope I get new doll clothes! And I want a new dress and shiny shoes!

I hope you get nice things for yours.
We will see on mine

 

[RaawrrrPincess]

I hope you get nice things for yours.
We will see on mine

Be sure to share with us what you get! We all wanna know!

 

[foxkits]

Be sure to share with us what you get! We all wanna know!

Ok I will

 

[am1248]

I started dreading it around the time I turned 10, since then it started to become more about having to talk to family members.

I stopped caring at all when I turned 18, because I got a few packs of Newports and a can of Coors Light... its like people didn't know my anymore... especially when I spent time putting thought into what to give them.

I don't like aging, so to ignore the distress caused by that, I just kind of ignore my birthday now.

 

[pampers4U]

Happy Birthday, I found my littles age by taking my years of age and turning it into months, so I’m 38yrs old adult, or just barely over 3yrs old in months, I suppose I’ll have to change to weeks when I get older as months won’t work for being a toddler / baby

 

[RuffRuff]

It is hard getting a year older. I don't celebrate my birthday anymore, because of several reasons that have happen over the years. I personally dislike my birthday. I usually just do things by myself that day now with doing little stuff. I try to make the most of it as best I can that day. Keep a positive my on your birthday. It can be a hard day getting older, but it can be a fun day if you want it to be in your own space.

 

[LittleJames97]

I don't care about celebrating my birthday too. Feel like being pressure to celebrate it and do not like receiving gifts.

 

[feetintrouble]

As for the getting older, I try not to think about it, but I adore birthday rituals, and receiving presents. I have a well-established little routine: my caregiver gives me a birthday spanking, one smack per year of my real age. (I like to think of this as the years being beaten out of me! ) Then she makes my cake; and while she does this, I am blindfolded and waiting patiently, listening to the sounds, smelling the smells, daydreaming of childhood, and wondering what goodies I am going to get. She feeds me cake mixture on a spoon, and allows me to lick the bowl. While it's baking, she wraps my presents in front of me, having double-checked that I can't see anything, and my childish excitement mounts. After what seems like an eternity, my eyes are uncovered for me to see my cake, blow out my candles, and open my presents.

And I wouldn't have my birthday any other way.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

I'm 57 now. Birthdays are different...I prefer to celebrate them alone by reflecting on my life, my circumstances, the good things...and to slam a decaf mocha.

And a triple-chocolate cupcake. With a fire extinguisher by my side for all 50-plus candles, LOL.

 

[foxkits]

Lol planes think my candles are an airport to land at. Like you triple chocolate is my favorite but only one slice is all I can have. Next year Medicare. Hugs your way

 

[LittleAndAlone]

I like to spend my birthdays with family. Namely all the actual kids in my life who get a fun day of pizza, cake, and ice cream at my expense.

Everything is better with kids. Except me, I just envy them dearly and feel empty inside longing to be a real kid again too.

 

[longallsboy]

I like to spend my birthdays with family. Namely all the actual kids in my life who get a fun day of pizza, cake, and ice cream at my expense.

I have done that too. Done my birthday, sometimes, in the past with young children (and, very young children actually) before, mostly before that horrible nightmarish COVID 19 that put me into total quarantine (and closed everything down, from the library to the local community colleges and universities and everything, for years). I had a cadre of young child friends when I used to be a co-host at Preschooler Storytime at my library, certainly in the 2010s. Plus in the more distant past, I've known other children, even as a younger adult chronologically. I've also actually been invited to children's birthday parties (for their birthday) myself even when I was in my mid 30s.

Everything is better with kids. Except me, I just envy them dearly and feel empty inside longing to be a real kid again too.

Actually, I don't really envy young children so much anymore. I used to, to an extent. However, as time went by and I got more older chronologically, I started to realize that early childhood, including toddlerhood and the preschool years, is very fleeting, fast, and over with quickly. Preschoolers don't keep and they leave behind that phase in their life fast unfortunately. Yes, to an extent, I envy some young children (mostly in the Deep South), like some little boys who get to wear long-alls / jon jons and T strap shoes, but they don't get to wear that sort of cutesy clothes for really that long a period. That is, if you are a child living in Alabama or Georgia or South Carolina. And not all children even there wear that sort of children's clothes. Certainly not on the West Coast. Children wear pretty boring hum-drum clothes, by comparison, in the Western part of the United States (and the Northern USA too). Yes, the toys for young children are great. Yes, Power Wheels cars are wonderful. Yes, I miss riding on kiddie rides at amusement parks that have maximum height restrictions. But overall, I'm not really so envious of children. Even second and third grade is not really fun, and by then, they are not even so cute anymore. The real carefree years are from age 2 to 5. I've seen some young children (and not my nephews as they are rather young), unrelated to me, grow from being 4 or 5 years old to being 20. And believe me, it's very fast. And I know being an adult is not something to look forward, because most of them will have to work like donkeys doing a job, to survive in the world. And that isn't easy, trying to make a living. I have Classic Autism and don't have a job (85% of Autistic college graduates are unemployed, but mostly because people are unwilling to give them jobs), but I do know a few people who aren't Autistic who don't work because they have other disabilities (including a few friends I've known from elementary school). However, most people do have jobs. Some of them are fun, but a lot are not fun at all. I used to look forward to being an adult when I was a child because I believed I could make my own rules and didn't have to listen to my parents either. Well, that's not true either, and I still live with my (actual biological) parents. But in a short word, in general, I don't really envy young children that much. Of course, I'm also getting older and in the next decade, I'm probably going to see the start of old age diseases when I go into my 50s. It really does blow your mind when you realize that preschoolers when you were even 20 years old are now in their early 30s!!! I look young, people always guess I look like I'm in early to mid 20s, but I'm really much much older - in my mid late 40s. I do look deceivingly young. I easily can pass for being 22 years old or 25 years old. And even age guessing computer software guesses my age to be around 26. My face looks very babyish. On the outside, I don't seem to be aging much. But who knows what my organs look like inside?

Again, I don't truly envy young children per se. But I'll tell you who I do envy. I totally envy those who are proportionate pituitary dwarfs who look like young children even though they are 30 or 40. If they are really small and proportionate, some of them actually look like preschoolers - and will remain that way forever. That is downright enviable - to be looking like a preschooler or toddler forever. Imagine wearing toddler sized clothes forever? Some of these people are a bit intellectually disabled, some are not. It depends. But also staying young or little does not mean you will necessarily live a longer life. And that is true even if we can find a way to halt aging and create a "fountain of youth". Some people who are developmentally little actually end up having serious medical problems. As an example, Brooke Greenberg looked like a one year old baby even though she was 20 years old. She looked cute, but she had multiple medical issues that landed her in the hospital several times. She also sometimes had seizures. She sadly passed away at age 20 in 2013 from bronchomalacia. That is weakness of the walls of the lungs. That is also something, when it does happen, that usually affects chronological babies who are under a year old or so. Her lungs were like that of a baby because she was the size of a toddler. And from what I know, she didn't have pituitary dwarfism per se because of growth hormone failure, although she never grew bigger even when she was given growth hormones, so she also may have had that issue. But I would love being a pituitary dwarf that looked like a child maybe about 3 or 4 years old. I've occasionally heard of people like that, although nowadays most young children who have pituitary dwarfism are given growth hormones and generally grow to an average adult size like most people on this board. There are a few who can't though. Some proportionate pituitary dwarfs live to a ripe old age - as evidenced by circus dwarfs, including those that were on the Wizard Of Oz, like the Doll (nee Schneider) family. The littlest one, Tiny Doll (real name : Elly Annie Schneider), never grew beyond 3 feet 3 inches and never weighed more than 46 pounds at the very most. She passed away at age 90 in 2004. That is older than most people live to be, and I'm 99.9% sure that I'll never live to be that old. Having Autism can really cause you to come to the end of your life sooner. Heart problems aren't even unusual with Autism in older age, probably because we get bullied so much. Most people would consider having pituitary dwarfism a disability, but they also don't have Autism. With my Autism and ADHD, it would have been a lot easier for me if I had just stayed the size of a 3 or 4 year old - for multiple reasons. I think it would been easier for me, my parents, and honestly, the all of this society. In my case, being a proportionate pituitary dwarf that looked like a 4 year old would have been a silver lining and would actually mitigate some issues caused by my (fairly severe) Autism. Sadly, some moms of young children I have known have come up to the same conclusion. I've had friends who were preschoolers and their moms thought things would be a lot easier for me if I was little. Some people on the internet mistakenly think I'm very high functioning with my Autism, but just because I'm able to write well, does not mean necessarily that I am higher functioning. A person could be even deaf and mute and write with no grammatical errors. Anyone who has spent any amount of time physically around me can see obviously I have a serious problem with my Autism. I know people with higher functioning Autism (which at one point was called Asperger Syndrome) who are more emotionally and socially like 13 or 14 year olds. Some people I know have driven across their state or even across the country, have gotten married, had children, or even in some cases, held down a job. In contrast, I can't even drive more than 25 to 30 minutes at a time usually without losing my concentration span. I also did not even talk or express myself verbally until I was 3 1/2 years old. There was definitely a delay in language acquisition. I was watching Teletubbies even in college. 96% of college students living in my residence apartment dorm thought I was intellectually disabled, or in their words, "retarded". And I wasn't called that because I was watching Teletubbies or vintage Sesame Street. Being around me probably would make you feel like you are around a 5 year old that is more knowledgeable. There have been younger children who have gone to community college. I've heard of and seen them in almost any community college that I have been to. Academic ability has nothing to do with social, emotional, and sometimes even mental age. There have been a few people with Down Syndrome that have graduated from college. And as far as an 8 year old going to college, they might be able to do the academic work, but an 8 year old is still an 8 year old socially and emotionally. That describes a lot of people with Autism as well.

I could have unbridled joy if I was the size of a 4 year old and went to amusement parks. There would be a lot more kiddie rides I could ride on. I could probably have four times the fun that I have currently when going to an amusement park.

- longallsboy

 

[longallsboy]

I like to spend my birthdays with family. Namely all the actual kids in my life who get a fun day of pizza, cake, and ice cream at my expense.

Everything is better with kids. Except me, I just envy them dearly and feel empty inside longing to be a real kid again too.

Speaking of little people (those with dwarfism) and being small....

Why does Cookie Monster's mom call him "Tiny"??!! LOL!! Cookie Monster is anything but tiny! He's bigger than Ernie. It's funny also how he keeps going on and on talking to his mom about his day in kindergarten -- the funniest being, "and someone brought in a postage stamp with a picture of Millard Fillmore on it", 1 minute and 30 seconds into the video. LOL. While Ernie is awaiting an important phone call from Bert. Then again, Ernie also talks a lot, disrupting Bert's sleep at night frequently, so this is kind of karma for Ernie. LOL.

Haha

- longallsboy

 

[dogboy]

I think Cookie Monster acts like he's very young so maybe his creators intend for him to be a young child. Children love cookies so maybe his character is that of a young child. Quite frankly, I love cookies too.....haha.

 

[foxkits]

I have some adult cookie monster shirts I wear out in public lol

 

[Mommasboy]

I go through the same thing every year, turned 30 in december. I consider my birthday the worst day of the year, its been that way since i was a teenager. The week leading up to it is bad, day of is awful, and then i usually feel better afterwards. I don't tell people when my birthday is, or i lie and say its some random day far away.

 

[Floodingpants]

I'm 65. I came from a time that birthdays were not a big deal. We got to choose the kind of cake we would like and that was about it. I would suggest that you go out and get yourself a special toy and enjoy your day. I must say. I have earned my old and I am proud of my years. I'm still in diapers and feel like a two year old.

 

[DiaperedTeddyBear]

I don't mind the number so much. What really bothers me is that when I look into the mirror I'm starting to see an old man. It kind of ruins my headspace when I'm wearing just a diaper and catch a look at myself.

I always go out for ice cream on my birthday. I order the biggest banana split on the menu and I feel like an excited little kid again. I really look forward to it because I don't feel special the rest of the day.

 

[foxkits]

I don't mind the number so much. What really bothers me is that when I look into the mirror I'm starting to see an old man. It kind of ruins my headspace when I'm wearing just a diaper and catch a look at myself.

I always go out for ice cream on my birthday. I order the biggest banana split on the menu and I feel like an excited little kid again. I really look forward to it because I don't feel special the rest of the day.

Don't look at your reflection.
I hate that too .
I'm little and I don't want to break the magic.

 

[DiaperedTeddyBear]

Don't look at your reflection.
I hate that too .
I'm little and I don't want to break the magic.

I try not to, but even when I avoid looking in mirrors I know why I'm avoiding it, and that still breaks the magic a little bit.

Instead of a mirror what I really need is a camera hooked up to a giant monitor that I could run video filters on to de-age me.