On Sunday, in an attempt to get out of our neighborhood, we rented a car and planned to go to Marlow (a picturesque village on the Thames...we have gone country walking there a couple of times). We were all excited, except for Millie, who was decidedly NOT excited about the fact that she was in her car seat. Evie gathered her ballerina mouse and bunny and even though it started to rain we were determined to get out and experience the world beyond Hampstead!
Alas, we made it only to the motorway, just past Ikea, before Evie threw up and our trip ended with a traffic jam, two stops on sketchy side roads and the promise of chocolate ice cream when we got home. I'm not sure what is going to happen when we're in America and Evie has to be in a car on a daily basis....
If you are a regular reader of this blog (and probably the only regular readers of this blog are our family at this point. We've gone from international travel to hanging out in living room surrounded by a ridiculous amount of toys in just a couple of years), you will know that Evie is into princesses. Some people feel that little girls being into princesses is just a big brainwash by Disney and other people who want to keep little girls down and we certainly weren't pushing the princess agenda with Evie...it just kind of happened. When Evie turned one, she was given a Cinderella book by one of our friends. Prior to this she had never heard of Cinderella or seen a Disney movie, so we were surprised when, while we were out and about one day, she got very excited about an advertisement for Disney World that was printed on the back of a magazine. Curious to see what would happen, we got her a Cinderella dress and we ordered her the Cinderella movie. Complete obsession followed and she has seen the movie no fewer than six thousand times.
Besides liking to 'clean' like Cinderella (yesterday I turned my back for a few minutes and found her on her hands and knees with her washcloth dipped into Finchley's water bowl and a pool of water around her on the kitchen floor. She was very proud of herself), Evie also likes to BE Cinderella. Her interpretation of Cinderella involves looking sad, moving very slowly, pretending to sob, and gazing longingly out of the window:
Also, she likes to sing and act out the romantic ball scene (notice how she pretends to trail her fingers through the water like Cinderella does in the movie...before being distracted by a rogue raisin that escaped during snack time). Apologies for the erratic video. I was feeding Millie and trying to film at the same time. Not a good idea:
Anyway, obviously a princess needs a castle, so I couldn't resist getting this princess tent for Evie and Millie. Jim had nothing to do with this decision and probably would have suggested that maybe we don't have room for such a thing in our already overflowing and too small flat. But Evie's reaction to the tent makes the reduction in space worth it! She even took her nap in it today: And someone else likes it, too...
When we introduced Evie to her Bumbo, her initial reaction was excitement and to tackle the objects in front of her:
Not so much with Millie. Despite my best efforts and the most tempting and exciting baby toys in my regime, she really was not impressed. In fact, I think she was bored!
If you ever want to feel good about yourself, have young children around. Not only do they think you are endless fun and interesting, but they also don't care what you look like or what you wear or whether or not you are a big dork. They always want to be with you. They think you are funny. There is nothing that you can do to tarnish their golden view of you (until they are about 12 and then it all goes to hell).
Yesterday Evie and I were playing "Cinderella" in the living room. In this game, Evie is obviously Cinderella and I get to alternate between the roles of fairy godmother and prince. One day I will video Evie doing her reenactment of the prince and Cinderella dancing at the ball, because she takes it very seriously and, for a 2 year old, it's pretty impressive. Anyway, yesterday I was dressed like this to be the fairy godmother: Upon seeing my getup, Evie came up to me, looked me in the eyes (sunglasses) and said, in an awestruck voice, "Mommy...BEAUTIFUL!"
Now that's love.
(Millie also enjoys gazing into my eyes and thinks it's hilarious when use my hair to be a carwash on her face. I must be even more beautiful than I thought!)
