A passion for princesses

The meltdown last week over the lack of princess books in the house made it apparent that we needed to beef up Jack’s collection.  I’ll be focusing on dress-up items of all sorts for xmas presents this year, I think.  I added some classic princess movies (that I can stand) to his wishlist and have a bookstore manager friend of mine scout out good book options (hopefully with a decent message about men and women).

Last night when I ran to the store to grab a few household necessities, I chose the princess pull-ups rather than the ones with cars on them.  Jack was ecstatic about wearing Cinderella this morning…I also got him a couple of Disney coloring books and he immediately grabbed his crayons to “make the princess’s dress red.”  The book and his box of crayons accompanied him to daycare this morning and, oy, did he have instructions for me on how to carry them for him!

One thing is for sure – no one can ever say I didn’t support the kid’s interests!

Fairytale boy

Jack is now full-on obsessed with princesses.  We read the program from they Disney On Ice every night before bed.  I arrived at his daycare yesterday to see him cloaked in a blanket.  I thought it was a cape but, alas, it proved to be a princess dress with a clip holding it together.  He had been insisting all day that he was Belle from Beauty & The Beast.  I’m not quite sure how Belle became his favorite but I guess she has the same color eyes and hair as him…  Apparently no one is allowed to have the same favorite princess.  He stole my favorite!  So I am now Cinderella.  That feels about right.  :P

Jack has memorized all of the Disney princesses from the show we saw.  He has bestowed a princess name upon everyone at daycare.  And yes, I have explained that in the stories the boys are princes and the girls are princesses; however, whenever I try to tell Jack the “truth” about anything, he pretty much rolls his eyes at me and says, “MAAAA-OHM, I’m just pretending!”  (I am scared of the teenaged years.)

This morning before we left the house Jack demanded to wear a pink princess dress…of course, Jack’s wardrobe consists mostly of pants and there is not a single dress or skirt to be found.  *gasp*  I will have to hit up the after-Halloween clearance sales I think.  We can’t be royalty without ball gowns!

The bad purple woman

Jack is on the mend and no longer contagious!  We trekked out to the east bay last night (braving the insane traffic that blocked westbound 80 for HOURS due to an overturned big rig) and attended the Disney Princess Classics show at Oracle Arena.  Jack was super excited, especially once he saw that my friend Christina’s little girl Alex was there.  When he saw her, he sounded like a shy, twitterpated boy: “Oh!  I didn’t know you would be here…”  What a crack up.

The noise was a little much for him sometimes but overall the night was a success.  After the fifth or so time of him asking me who some character was, it occurred to me that Jack has never actually watched any of the princess movies.  I struggled to remember some of the details but for the most part I could sing “A Whole New World” or “Under the Sea” from heart (thanks to my sister’s childhood obsession with Ariel, I used to be able to recite the entire movie) and knew most of the character’s names.  I am still not sure what to call the dancers in the Aladdin set…harem girls came to mind but I am not sure about that one.  :P

One of the funniest things about last night was when every kid in the auditorium screamed “NO!” over and over at Snow White when she was wondering aloud if she should take the apple from the old hag.  The second was Jack’s description of Ursula the ugly octopus witch from The Little Mermaid as “the bad purple woman.”  He can’t tell you which princess was which but he clearly remembers the bad purple woman!

We left halfway through the show (at intermission) because Jack started to sag and laid his head on my shoulder (and there is only so much of ice skating princesses I can take…).  I’m so glad I took Jack, though!  What an awesome memory for both of us!