The Reluctant Princess

Poor Kaitlyn (yeah, right).

Saturday started off with a nice, sentimental moment. I set both Ryan and Kaitlyn down at the breakfast table, served them juice and milk, and turned on some music while I cooked breakfast for them. I let Fran sleep in for a little while...

"Brown Eyed Girl" came on and I started dancing around--I looked up and two little sets of eyes were looking at poor Dad like he had gone crazy--then we all started laughing and I scooped up Kaitlyn and started dancing around with her...

A friend of mine recently told me a funny story about a dad who had planned out a big vacation trip for his family, then got called away to work on an emergency project on the day they were supposed to leave. He vowed to meet them at their destination. The trip was so well-planned out that he pretty much knew where they were going to be at a given time, so at one point a couple of days later, they were driving down the highway, and there was their Dad--hitchhiking with a big sign and a huge grin on his face. Why did he do it? He said, "Maybe my kids can say some things about me but at least they can't say I wasn't fun!"

I realized that Kaitlyn plays almost exclusively with Ryan's hand-me-down toys, and, even though she has plenty to play with and is very happy, she hasn't really had anything "girlie" enough. So that became one of the missions of the day. I asked Ryan, "Don' you think we should go get a nice toy for Kaitlyn to play with?"

If you realize the egocentric mind of the 6-year-old, you probably are one step ahead of me--Ryan realized that, if we are going to the toy store, maybe there's something in it for him, too. How could I resist getting a little something for him, anyway--he made straight A's on his report card yesterday, and his teacher complimented his behavior to me, saying I was "lucky to have such a good boy." (He is very well-behaved).

So I strapped them in the car and we went to the toy store.

An aside: It is unbelivable to me how it is already Christmas shopping season! The roads around the stores were crammed with desperate people. Christmas music was blaring in every store, and trees, lights, ribbons, etc. were everywhere. Hey people, it's 80 degrees outside! Inside the toy store, I saw people set their jaw against the crowds and whip their buggies mercilessly, menacing each other to clear a path while I prepared for an inevitable impact. What urge causes this craziness when it is barely November? I can't stand crowds like that.

Kaitlyn has never been in a toy store like this--I took her from section to section in the store, and, within a short time, she was overwhelmed and quiet. I don't think it occurred to her that we would be taking home something.

The choice was hard at first--nothing jumped out at me as an obvious choice. Being nearly two, Kaitlyn didn't need another baby toy that wouldn't keep her interested for very long. And God knows we have enough stuffed animals! Earlier this week, I set Kaitlyn on the couch, and, while she giggled, put stuffed animals all around her like the scene from ET--we've got dozens of them! Most toys that are any fun are rated for three years old and above--and Kaitlyn tends to put small pieces in her mouth still, which makes us nervous wrecks.

I found a "Disney Princess" car that she could ride on--it plays songs and has little activities she can do and all different buttons she can press which play songs--she loves it, and was busy playing with it for hours! But the best part was that it came complete with a shiny tiara which she wore the rest of the day, including when we went out to dinner with family. We all got a kick out of it because she wore it like a "natural". She was happy--I just chose this picture because I found the juxtaposition a little funny. I take enough smiling, happy pictures of my kids that it's fun sometimes to snap one or two when they are fussing...Fran really likes a saying from one of her favorite authors that describes a kid whose mouth has "gone square"--she thinks that's a great description of what they look like when they cry...

I had fun with my little princess today. I think it's good for a man to have a daughter--especially someone like me who grew up mainly with brothers. It opens a different dimension of my heart that might otherwise have gone dormant.