A Tale of a Princess

Once upon a time there was a little girl. This little girl was happy and active and loved doing everything that her older brother and sister did. She loved playing in the dirt and mud, was fascinated by bugs (and really all animals). She was a rough and tumble little girl who also had a soft side for her mommy.

One morning out of the blue, this little girl woke up and decided she was a princess and she couldn't take off the princess nightgown she just happened to be wearing (which also happened to be the ONLY piece of princess clothing this little girl's family owned). Her mom was surprised, shocked, completely caught off guard. Her little girl who would happily wear anything her mom put on her (though she preferred her shirts and dresses that had ladybugs and butterflies) all of a sudden refused to wear anything she didn't consider to be proper princess attire. Thinking it was just an off day, her tired and very pregnant mom decided to just go with it and let her wear the princess nightgown all day. Much to her mom's dismay though, the little girl refused to take off the princess nightgown that night too. And thus began the completely unanticipated  and dreaded princess phase. 

A month later, Princess Ellie's wardrobe has expanded to about 4 princess approved outfits (2 of which are fairy costumes). In moments of desperation when all of the favored dresses are dirty, a fancy church dress will do the trick too. The princess prefers her feet stay bare, but the rare times her mom can convince her to wear shoes she will only agree to her purple sparkly flip flops, which she is quickly outgrowing. The little girl spends her days blissfully surrounding herself with all things princess. She rarely leaves the house without a purse, an assortment of necklaces and bracelets, or some other fancy accessory. Meanwhile her mom spends her days pulling her hair out over the fact that she can't ever get the little princess to change out of her princess clothes and that she sleeps in nothing but a diaper most nights because her pajamas are not princessy enough. Every trip to a store now requires a run through the clothing section to look for inexpensive princess approved dresses (do you know how hard this is to accomplish???). In the meantime her very large wardrobe of nearly new and completely adorable clothes sits untouched in her dresser. 

The royal family hopes this phase passes quickly (especially with the colder weather coming!). In the meantime though her squeals of delight, oohing and aahing over beautiful princess things, and overall princess cuteness keep winning our hearts over.

Her royal pet rock, Rock a bye baby. Yes, she named it herself.