Dress-Up

Ava is truly a girlie-girl! She loves all things girl and when her Daddy played dress up with her, you couldn’t have made her day any better even if you had tried. It wasn’t long before she came out with this ensemble on and twirled around for me! It was definitely a mix and match kind of outfit. The bow and tutu were part of her 1st birthday outfit…I can’t believe that has been a year and a half ago! The wings were from her Gigi and the slippers were under the tree from Santa this past Christmas.

***I should put in a disclaimer, that even though she is a girlie-girl, she is also growing up around a hardware store, it’s nothing to see her using tools to “build” something :)

I have to admit I love this princess stage, I’m dreading the day she will outgrow it. I know more and more girls (young- ages 5/6- maybe even younger) are trading in their princess attire for a more grown-up-girl-with-an-attitude look and I am going to try my hardest to keep that from happening as long as possible. I could get on a soapbox about all the things the world will throw at her as she grows up, all the lies and deception it will try to get her to believe, so I secretly hope she remembers how she feels at this point when she believes she is a princess and remembers that feeling when the world tries to tell her she doesn’t matter or that she isn’t good enough. We all know that growing up is hard and call me crazy, but I’m all for protecting my child from it as long as possible. I know there are some mom’s who aren’t too keen on the whole princess thing, and far be it from me to tell them otherwise, but there is something wholesome and innocent about girls wanting to be a princess waiting for their prince charming and what’s even more notable is that in every princess movie (at least the ones we have in this house) the princesses’ attitudes are always cheerful and kind. Why shouldn’t we raise our little girls to have the same type of attitudes?

We have had more tea parties than I can count and have danced like Cinderella (and now her new favorite, Belle) and Bippiddi-Boppiddi-Boo’d it until we were bippiddi’d out. Secretly, I’m most excited about seeing what she makes her daddy do as she gets older. I remember doing my dad’s hair and clipping every hairclip and bow in his hair…and I don’t remember how ridiculous he looked, all I recall is how much fun I had doing it. Ahh, Adam’s life is changing by the second thanks to his little girl.