"Princess Sofia"

My sister-in-law sent me this story the other day. Having a daughter named Sophia, I had to read it.

Ugh.

I have a love hate relationship with the Princesses. I grew up watching them. Love Cinderella. My middle name is Aurora (as is Sophia's) and I married a Phillip thus we are a living Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip-minus the sleeping thing and white horse and fairies following me around...) But as I have grown older and studied Media Literacy and the damaging effects of the Princesses....I cringe.

I am reluctant to overly encourage and share Princess stuff with Sophia. I prefer her to watch the more neutral movies and TV programs like Winnie the Pooh, Cat in the Hat, Fireman Sam, etc. and if we are going to watch a movie I'm glad she will pick Cars over a princess.

But Princess Sofia? It's over the top for me. She is targeted for girls age 2-7. She is "the purple-gowned kiddie princess. She becomes a princess when her mom marries the king of her storybook world." Disney assures us "That the inner character of kindness, generosity, loyalty, honesty and grace make you special, not the dress you wear." But when you have a 'kiddie princess' in a sparkly purple gown and tiara leaving in a castle and being a part of her MOM's STORYBOOK WORLD??? you are not going to be teaching my daughter much to relate to.

This Mom's Storybook world includes a husband who works very hard and carries the weight of his family's little world on his shoulders.

Two 'princesses' who cry, still have potty accidents, have tantrums, and hug you so fiercely you fall over.

While our 'castle' keeps us warm and dry the girls share a room and a dresser and a closet. We all share one small bathroom.

The have matching fuzzy footie pajamas that I bought on sale and to boot it was buy one get one free! I spent $8.80 total on their Christmas jammies.

There aren't a lot of sparkly new dresses and "bling" to wear. Our storybook includes making the food in the pantry and freezer stretch until pay day and having to say No to a box of band-aids because I literally didn't have the $1.99 to buy the fancy box of boo-boo fixers.

I hope Princess Sofia doesn't infiltrate my Princess Sophia's little world. 

Elf on the Shelf

Elf on the Shelf who has seemed to drop his moniker, Hat, has continued to make the rounds around the house. Only once did he have an extended stay at the North Pole with Santa because Sophia hurt his feelings and was really misbehaving. And he enjoyed sitting on an oil lamp so much he didn't move the next day. (whoops!) Perhaps he was extra warm from the (unlit) lamp and didn't want to move.

Shhh, Elf is napping.

Cup o joe?

One of my personal favorites!

9 months - Emma and Company

I can't believe Emma turned 9 months on Saturday. She is as old as I carried her. She is becoming a little person and not just a rolly polly blob. She is eating solids, although we need to continue to expand her palette. She is still toothless although I swear she was getting teeth at 4 months. They still haven't broken through the gum line. She has not figured out the crawling thing. She flops around from belly to back and can get her legs under her as if to crawl but can't seem to figure out what to do next. There are many things she has yet to learn but she has become so much more interactive as of late.

Sophia and Emma have started to "play" together. And by play I mean Sophia tries to pick her up or pull her close so they can do things together. Sophie is just strong enough to pick Emma up under her arms and place Emma where she wants her. But she hasn't heeded my advice when I tell her to put Emma down because she is pulling on her more than picking her up. With play also comes fights. Sophia does not yet understand that Emma has no concept of "mine" and "yours." So things are often grabbed out of each others hands.

So far now they are two sisters who love each other and learning to navigate each others world's. Each getting older and melting our hearts more and more each day.