Of course, she'll probably grow up to be a little goth chick.

[constance]

My niece's first birthday is coming up in a month or so -- though I'm finding it difficult to believe that a year has gone by this quickly, I'm told it's entirely true -- but they're having her birthday party on December 1, since her actual birthday is so close to Christmas. I think it's a good precedent to set, separating the two occasions, but I'm in favor of the Birthday in June concept even more. December is December, and for some people it's just not separated enough if the two events fall in the same month.

Anyway, they're far enough apart that I'll have no trouble separating them; I won't be going to the birthday party, because I can't take the time off work. But I did find a kick-ass present for her, which I will send with my mother. Isn't it pretty? It matches her room, it's built like a set of nesting dolls, it's something she can use for a long time -- and I need to give it to her now, while she's still teeny enough not to mind or even know when she's showered with practical things rather than the latest Disney Princess merchandise.

Not that this isn't pretty princessy, now that I think about it. I think I'd have quite liked to have this when I was a little girl. But I'm sure I'd have preferred the gold-stamped vinyl-covered one lined with scratchy polyester satin with the pop-up spinning ballerina that played a tinkly music-box song whenever you opened it, which was what I had and which I thought was the most glamorous thing on earth, even more glamorous than my pink banana-seat bicycle with the butterfly decals and the pink and white streamers hanging from the handlebars.

I'll have years to stock her up on plastic crap, but in the meantime, it's kind of nice knowing that for at least another year, I'll get to pick things that I think are pretty.

Comments

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

When I was little, my most treasured possession was my big, gold jewelry box. It had one of those magnetic dancing ballerinas in it, and it was multi-tiered with removable trays, and long before I used it for actual jewelry, I alternated between storing other treasures in it and emptying it out so that I could play "Ultimate Velvet-Seated Theatre" with it. (The little hinged ring compartment at the top was the balcony seating. No matter that the featured show was ALWAYS BALLET.)

I think your niece will LOVE this box. She can use it soon just to open and shut it, and when she's about 18 months old, she'll move into her stacking, lining up, and hoarding phase, and this'll come in right handy for that, too. Excellent, excellent choice.

Also, yay for you for being a proponent of the birthday-in-June strategy. I can't tell you how many people are appalled that we do that, even when I tell them it's Brooke's choice.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm informed by reliable sources that our own little princess has already got a head start on the jewelry, even if it's a choking hazard for her to actually wear the stuff, so at least she'll have something to put into it.

And you know, I still use my jewelry box to store little keepsakes that I don't have any other place for, so she'll have it filled in no time, I'm sure.

Heeee to the Ultimate Velvet-Seated Theater! I wish I'd thought of that one! As it was, the most cleverly creative I got with the ballets was when my grandmother gave me a little plastic Degas replica which I used to put over the center of my record player, so she spun at 33 1/3 RPM while the music played.

Why appalled? That seems like a strange reaction to me -- I think it's immensely fair and practical, especially when you have another child whose birthday isn't anywhere near Christmas. Ms. D, my mother's BFF who died this summer, organized things this way for one of her stepsons, and I always thought it was a terrific idea.

[proteinscollide.livejournal.com]

The box is darling - I really like the inside, with all the compartments that fit into each other. I think it's really princess-y and grown up, and I can't think of any little girls who don't love items like that. =) (even ones who grow up to be not very girly)

[tofty.livejournal.com]

And even if she does turn out to be a little goth chick, I can cross my fingers that she'll be a gothic lolita, just the kind to appreciate the girly pinkness of such an article as that. :D