outside the (toy) box

She picked Charlotte’s Web!  SQUEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It’s another princess-free Halloween!  SQUEEEE!!!! I did NOT use coercion or bribery of any sort — and I have survived even this without ever uttering one bad word about princesses to my daughter.  I save those for you all. And the people I work with. And my students. And my husband. And the mail carrier. And the dog…

I did, however, dole out my enthusiasm unevenly, I complimented her on many of her ideas and never offered up such adoration for princess.  So sue me.  I was being sincere!

Anyway, this Halloween we will have Thing 1 starring as Fern (of course she wants to be Fern at the fair with her pretty yellow dress and red hair ribbons - not Fern in the overalls and raincoat, but that’s fine, no problem), Thing 2 as Wilbur, dh as Templeton the rat — dd picked, not me….really.  And, yours truly as Charlotte.  Can’t wait!  Oh, so nice to enjoy the holiday again.

This doesn’t mean Thing 1 is without clear understanding of the cultural importance of beauty, however. This morning, on the way to Thing 2’s sitter, she asked if she could come in (I say yes about 85% of the time), and I said, “Sure, today it’s fine, but remember when we’re running late I can’t always say yes.”  To which she said, “Well, when we’re late, can you tell me at home, so I know not to wear special clothes if I can’t show them to Kate and Tina (the sitters)?”  And I said, “Well, you should just wear what YOU like, and feel comfortable in — clothes aren’t really for other people.”  And she said, “But I like the attention they give me when I’m all decked out.”  Fair enough - don’t we all. Too bad she doesn’t garner as much attention for being smart or kind or funny….

and, exhibit B:

Last weekend, when we visited our extended family, dd was playing with the object of all her worship, older cousin Katie.  Thing 1 loves and adores her so much that she actually mopes around saying things like, “I miss Katie too too much, I want to cry” and “I wish my name were Katherine…” It’s heartbreaking.  At any rate — last weekend Katie fixed Thing 1’s hair clip and perfunctorily said, “there, that looks pretty.” Did my dd say thank you? Nope. She dramatically took off her glasses (bright red, awesome glasses, btw.), closed her eyes and said, “And aren’t my eyelashes soooo long?”  Shameless!

Lest you think she frightfully shallow, though, we all went out to breakfast yesterday and dd was telling the waitress, “They call me Thing 1, because I was born first, and they call my brother Thing 2, because he was born second…” and the waitress was engaging her and dd interrupts her completely to blurt out, “I love Thing 2 — a LOT!”  awwww…..