Raw Drip

I’m not sure how it happened, but despite being forced to wear her brother’s hand-me-down jeans & t-shirts and playing with trucks all day, Dick and I have somehow managed to make a very girly girl.  Tabitha has developed an intense affection for baby dolls, dresses, shoes & accessories.  When given the choice of a new toy, candy or a new dress, Tabitha will choose the dress without hesitation.  At barely 2 1/2 Tabitha can identify pictures of make-up in magazines, calls my purse a “handbag”, and frequently refuses to wear her sneakers when her favorite pair of flower-covered sandals go with her outfit so much better. 

How did this happen?  I mean, I’m a pretty girly-girl – I love to dress, adore make-up, am acquiring a respectable handbag collection and own too many shoes to count – but I’ve hardly thrust my views upon her.  I never dressed her in frilly things as a baby.  I’ve never drifted into JonBenet Ramsey territory, either.  I suspect it’s a combo of genetics & in utero influences – like my girlfriend calling her “Sephora” before we’d picked out a name for her. 

Regardless of the cause I’m going to have to make peace with my new competition for attention and resources.  Not only can the wink of her sparkling, golden-green eyes melt her father (and me, too, occasionally) but her soft-spoken, gentle nature makes you want to spoil her.  It’s an almost hypnotic effect – “must abandon savings goals and shop for cute shoes for little girl.”  With such a powerful combination of traits going for her, I’m sure she’ll learn quickly how vulnerable we are to their influence and she’ll figure out how to employ her feminine wiles to her advantage.  YIKES! 

In the meantime, I’m trying to set a good example by abandoning some of my materialistic leanings.  I’ve stopped adding to my handbag collection – for now.  As for jewelry, unless we hit the lotto soon, I’m certainly NOT acquiring any more of that.  Hopefully I can demonstrate the benefits of fiscal restraint and sensibility to help tether her budding interest in girlish consumerism.  Admittedly, this is much less fun than taking her on a shopping spree for clothes, shoes & handbags.