A Few of the SEVERAL Reasons I Love Having A Girl

Every time we play in the front yard (street) or go for a walk, I can NOT keep my daughter from picking every flower/shrub/berry/miscelaneous foliage she comes across along the way. Its like a sickness! And every time, I tell her, "Anabelle, you cant pick the neighbor's roses. They don't belong to us, you didn't ask permission, and if all the kids pick the flowers, there won't be any left for the people to enjoy." And then she looks up at me with these little baby doe eyes and innocently sings, "But MOMMY, I picked them for YOU! Put them in your hair, and BE BEAUTIFUL!" Grrr. How do you argue with that (HIGHLY advanced manipulation strategy)?

I still insist that although I do appreciate the thoughtfulness, she needs to ask before she picks unless its from the park or our yard. So, she has started HOARDING the shrubbery at the park which does NOT include roses and daisy's but rather reeds and berry shrubs (and maidens do NOT wear shrubs in their hair, every princess knows that).

SO, now when we walk to the park and she gathers her shrubs for the day, she rushes home and goes straight for the cup cabinet to fill a glass of water... for our kitchen table centerpiece:


Yesterday, when she woke up from her nap, she INSISTED on stripping down to the my little pony chones and dressing up like a "beautiful ballerina" (or a roaring 20's flapper, which is basically the exact same thing, right? Maybe we'll save that lesson for another day).


After I took this picture of her, she found a hula skirt for the bottom half of her, and we set off to get the mail down the street. EVERY neighbor stopped to compliment her on her "beautiful outfit." And she TOTALLY knew it was hot. When the little granny that lives a block over told her how gorgeous she looked Anabelle just cocked her head to the side and said "Yeah!" like, duh, she already knew that.

Granny didn't think I was half as cute when I muttered "I wish I could wear this to the mail box every day without half the neighborhood bidding on me..."

What does she know, anyway.