Princesses

Baby Girl is 2 1/2 now and into Princesses, as all little girls are.  Her mommy is an avid Disney Princess fan, so it's not a surprise.  Baby Girl's a Princess in overalls with mud on her face.  That's something I appreciate about her, her balance.  Pretty but tough as nails.   She's also obsessed with Alvin and the Chipmunks - Simon is her favorite - and Cars.   But this is mostly about the Princesses.

Gah...

I'm not so much a Princess kind of girl.  I've seen all the movies.  I've read all the stories.  I've sung all the songs... I even tried to be a Princess kind of girl for the sake of both of my little sisters (19 and 23 years younger than me).  It just didn't look right on me.  The whole Prince Charming rescuing the misunderstood, abused, forgotten beautiful girl who was tortured by her stepmother... yeah... not my idea of a beautiful, inspirational moment.

Before you jump on the Wicked Stepmother Bandwagon as my reason for not loving the Princesses, my inability to adore these characters was before even I had kids.

When asked what my favorite princess is, I have to say Snow White.  For no other reason than the fact that she went to live with a bunch of guys in the middle of a forest for protection and all the animals were pretty awesome with her.  The idea of leaving a palace and living in the woods is pretty appealing to me.

My version of Prince Charming

My fairy tale is Peter Pan.  Probably because I see myself like Wendy.  Forced to grow up a little faster than she wanted, responsible for her younger siblings, a mother-hen by nature, decides to take on a wild boy and attempts to tame him, while falling in love at the same time.  Except in my fairy tale, Wendy stays with Peter, she lightens up A LOT and he grows up just a little and they live happily ever after with the mermaids, pirates and Indians and a gaggle of rambunctious boys to take care of.

Not all of my life turned out like that.  But the important parts have.

I don't mind that Baby Girl and I won't be bonding over a brightly-colored Princess Moment.  I'm sure there will be other things in her life where we will connect  and will be special for just the two of us.

I'm okay giving up the tiara and glass slippers until that moment comes.
_____________________________________________

Funny Snow White story:

For Christmas, Baby Girl got a Snow White doll from Grammy.  She ran up to Captain the other night with Snow White in her hand and the bow and hair net thingy in the other hand and said "Help me, Daddy!  Can you fix her!?"

Without missing a beat, she added "It's m'kay Daddy.  Accidents happen." and toddled back off to the playroom.

A few moments after fiddling with the toy, he looked over to me and asked me if I knew how to fix Princess Hair. I told him I did and that it was a required skill mastered by all 6 year-old girls.  I took the doll and accessories he gladly handed to me, made her as good as new and returned her to the care of Baby Girl.

It's m'kay.  Accidents happen.