Somewhere along the line we hit the “Princess” stage late
last year. Everything was “Princess
Princess Princess” for Miss A. Well, not
everything but she certainly latched on to the idea that anything Princess was
probably meant just for her and her alone.
We of course did little to dissuade this idea, falling into that typical
stereotype for little girls….princess dollies, princess trikes, princess cups,
princess bedding, princess undies and even a princess potty chair. (Guess I should mention that the Disney
Fairies are included in the idea of Princess as far as Alivia is
concerned.) Even Davian jumped on the bandwagon
and recognized that if it was “Princess”, then it was probably claimed by
Alivia.
Dress-Up was also something that became apparent for both
kids. The day care they go to has
several dress-up costumes for the kids to play with if the urge strikes. Since it helps with learning how to dress
themselves, and the question of what to get the kids for Christmas came up, I
suggested a few dress up items, particularly for Alivia as she was showing more
interest in dressing up than Davian, a harmless idea as far as I could see.
We have also achieved the beginnings of the “she’s touching
me” that many see in the case of siblings.
We are not quite there yet, but signs are becoming stronger daily. The kids are very close in age and have a
very strong love/hate relationship going, something I expect to last for the
rest of their lives. Although they
constantly want to know where the other is, how the other is doing, and show
great concern if the other one is not where they are expected to be, both kids
are more than willing to antagonize the other just for the hell of it. If one has something, the other must possess
it…NOW. If one says not to do something,
the other must do it…IMMEDIATELY. This
should come as no surprise….we have all at least seen it at one point or
another, if not experienced it directly.
Anyway, back to Christmas….sure enough Alivia received a
little Cinderella dress-up dress. Pretty
blue with lots of lace, sparkle and poof.
She also received a nifty little pink flouncy tutu, again with lots of
sparkle and poof. She seemed to approve
of both before setting them aside to tearing into the next Christmas present…
It was later that evening when Davian came up to me, holding
the Cinderella dress. “Put it on” he
demanded, meaning he wanted help putting it on.
So I did. He looked lovely,
flitting around the living room, so proud of his sparkly outfit. Seeing her brother enjoying the moment,
Alivia snatched up the pink tutu and the two of them ran around looking very
pretty indeed.
And so went the next few weeks, both kids periodically dressing
up in princess dresses, tutu’s and super hero capes with masks. Then one evening, Davey discovered another use
for the princess dress. Alivia was playing
with some toy that he desparately wanted to play with – for no other reason
than she had it. Try as he might,
nothing would persuade her to give up the coveted toy. After being put in time out a couple of times
for taking it away from her, Davian decided to get clever.
Marching up to me with a determined look on his face, he
held out the Cinderella dress. “I want
dress on” he announced. Once he had the dress on, he stomped with
more determination into the living room where Alivia was playing.
“Wibia…” he sing songed.
“Wibia, I got your princess.”
Then he took off for the other room just as fast as his light up
Superman shoes would carry him.
Alivia stopped in mid-play.
She looked around carefully, watching as Davey ran down the hall. You could see it in her little eyes….”He has my princess on….he has my PRINCESS
on….HE HAS MY PRINCESS ON!!!!”
Just about the time she was going to let it go, we heard the
sing-song voice of Davian, calling from her room….”Wibia….I got your princess
on….AND I am on your princess”
(translation – I am wearing your dress and I am on your bed with
princess sheets so take that you little twerp…see if I want to play with that
toy you are holding hostage!).
The reaction was immediate.
NO ONE puts on Alivia’s princess dress AND gets in her princess bed with
HER princess sheets. She dropped the
coveted toy and with a mighty war cry ran screaming at full volume down the
hall right into the bedroom door that Davian managed to get closed just as she
reached it. I am sure the ‘thud’ was
heard two counties away…
While she rolled around on the floor, wailing at the
injustice of it all, Davian quietly opened the door, stepped past her and
happily gathered up the now abandoned toy.
He then smiled as he carried it off to his room to play. In the meantime, I managed to scoop up the
unhappy girl, sooth her little ego and put her in her tutu, along with her
princess cup, her princess blanket, and her princess pillow.
But before you express worry or concern or even outrage,
rest assured that my little princess got her revenge. Without a single word, she managed to bean
her big brother right between the eyes with a little people princess. It was a beautiful shot…
I got your princess on indeed…..
