Stella celebrated her 4th birthday over the weekend. It was pretty low-key: a barbecue with my folks followed by cake and presents. Some of you may recall that for Mira’s 6th birthday she chose a scuba adventure over a traditional themed party with friends. In the long run, this single “special” event in lieu of a full-blown birthday party with lots of guests and all the trimmings actually ended up being financially cheaper. And yet still a memorable affair- in all actuality, more so. It was a win-win.
So, later this week, for Stella’s special birthday event we’ll immerse her in one of her favorite things- Disney Princesses. We’ll be heading to Disney again but this time she’ll have private one-on-one time with a lucky princess or two. As I was calling in our reservations with Disney I thought how ironic it was– I, who had sworn off anything pink or princess related with the birth of my first daughter was now one of those moms forking over a chunk of money to the franchised phenomena. I used to cringe whenever I saw moms falling into “that trap” of pink and glitter for their girls. I never bought into the complete ‘non-gender specific’ crap but, likewise, didn’t want to throw make-up and high heels at my impressionable toddler either.
With my oldest Mira, things pink and princessey never grabbed hold of her attention. She was impervious to baby dolls and those stereotypical aisles of pink in the toy store. Mira was all about dinosaurs and animals. But Stella… Stella came out of the womb pink and sassy. She was born with glitter coursing through her veins and a tiara firmly planted on her brow. She brought “girly-girl” into our house and it’s never been the same since…
…and honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing. In hindsight, why should I attempt to impose my view on what makes her happy by restricting something I once deemed culturally stereotypical. Sure, we could focus just on the vanity aspect of the princess culture and leave everything at its most shallow level. But here in our house, we stress that being a princess is more than fancy dresses and pretty pink shoes. Beauty is more than skin-deep and delve deeper we do. I use princesses as a tool to showcase to my girls the traits and characteristics I hope to endow to them. Princesses are smart like Belle and love a good book. Princesses are not afraid of hard work and don’t get discouraged by tribulations like Tiana.
Howard and I collaborated on a special hand-bound princess book for Stella’s 3rd birthday that attested to our desire to make this phase as positive and empowering as possible. (You can see more photos of the book here.)
Sure, it’s not always easy to find the teachable moments hidden among the sequins and glitter. In today’s princess culture there is a lot of superficial to sort through and if I left it to society to do. . . well, in any event, as a homeschooling mom, I’m getting pretty darn good out of making meaningful and memorable learning experiences out of just about anything. Princesses included.
One final proud mommy moment to share- earlier this month Stella successfully read through her first Nora Gaydos beginning reader book. Each Nora Gaydos collection contains ten small storybooks. This Level 1 set uses silly stories with short vowel sounds, especially designed for beginning readers. Stella read through the first book in the set 4 times and earned herself a stamp for each successful completion. (The book does include 4 corresponding stickers for each story but I had already used them with Mira a few years back.)
Stella is thrilled to be able to say she can read “just like Mira!” and {music to my heart} she exclaimed that she wants to build a library “as big as Belle’s!”
. . . and she learned Happily Ever After.
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