a classic blunder*

Don't be a smug mama. 

Smugness is a tricky thing. It can sneak up on you ... when you are having a particularly good parenting day ... when everything is going your way ... when you seem to have all the answers. You will unconsciously start to puff up. Just a little at first, but before you know it you'll be fully inflated. And when that happens your child will come along to either burst that confidence bubble (a la the turd-bombing incident) or orchestrate a slow deflate. 

Last night was one of those  slow-deflate nights. 

In a moment of weakness, I promised Joe a toy in exchange for 10 minutes in the women's clothing section at Target. After much deliberation, he chose a Princess Anna dress. Just as I was about to refuse the $20 purchase, he hit me with the girls at school say boys aren't allowed to wear dresses even though I want to be Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. 

Well geez kid. You can be anything you wanna be. Plus you're four. A long (very modern, very politically correct) explanation followed and ended with me agreeing to buy the dress.

Then I fell victim to flattery by stranger. (Flattery will get you everywhere with me. Every. Single. Time.) She was a teenage hipster employee. You are my favorite! What a cool mom! Lucky little boy!

Obviously. I am cool. And totally open-minded. A quality that has clearly allowed my boy to flourish. I am raising a sensitive boy. I am raising a boy who will break down gender barriers. I am raising a boy who refuses to conform.

Smuggy smug smug smug. 

princess rough and tumble

When we arrived home, my sweet and sensitive princess started to show his true colors. 

Princess Anna tackled his brother. Princess Anna clotheslined his brother. Princess Anna dropkicked his brother. In his new dress. And laughed maniacally. 

Hear that slow leak? That's the air leaving my giant, puffed up head. The whole evening left me feeling like this:

hair can sometimes precisely convey your mental state

I'd like to amend my earlier statement. I am raising a sensitive boy. I am raising a boy who will break down gender barriers. I am raising a boy who refuses to conform.

Boy oh boy.

olive juice, okay?

emily

p.s. Bonus picture of young William in the bath last night. He will sit in a tub of cold water babbling bubbles, bubbles, bubbles until his mother forcibly removes his shivering, blue body. Oh yeah. I'm raising the future leaders of America up in here...

* yes, that was a Princess Bride reference.