from the minds of young ladies
Annie loves to draw pictures and then gives them to people. Her teacher has said that most days each child in class will have some “gift” from Annie in their cubbies by the end of the day. Mimi is the recipient of many of these pictures as well, and she has even gotten used to demanding certain qualities from these drawings. Yesterday in church Mike and I overheard a conversation. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this conversation, but it still tickles my funny bone.
Mimi: I want you to draw me a picture of princesses, of you and me.
Annie: Ok. (Annie promptly begins her assignment.)
A couple of minutes have lapsed.
Annie: Here you go. This princess is you, and this princess is me.
Mimi: I don’t want to be that one. I want to be this one.
Annie: No, Mimi. Look. This princess has shorter hair like yours, and the other princess has long hair like me.
Mimi: (Starting in with her piercing screeching sound that could put down a whole S.W.A.T. team.) I don’t want to be that one. I want to be this one.
Annie: (Always the peacemaker, unless she’s not getting her way.) Okay, Mimi, you can be the princess with the long hair.
Mimi: Good. I like this one the best.
Mimi: (Mimi then shows me the picture.) Mama, I like this princess. She’s the princess with the one eye.
Mommy: Wow, Mimi, that’s a fabulous reason for wanting to be like someone. Because she’s got one eye. Can we call her Cyclops?
Mimi: ??
The other time I heard a conversation similar to this was while we were out to dinner with some friends. Annie, once again, drew a picture of princesses. This time there were 3 of them, Annie, Mimi and the friends’ daughter, Z. Apparently, Z chose to be the same princess as Annie, and an argument ensued. About a minute later Annie was tattling on Z to me for not choosing the princess Annie drew for her. How do I respond to such an injustice?