The Princess and I...

In the winter of '09 we first found out that our second baby was in fact, a girl. There were a lot of jokes about her being the "Princess". Out of all the grandbabies born so far, she was the fourth and the only girl. Now, after our third nephew was born last fall, she is one girl out of four boys. Technically, I guess she is the Princess. That's all good and well, it's a cute nick-name, but the problem with our princess? She has a royal attitude, let me tell you.

Last night it was the princess' decree that no one in the kingdom shall sleep. Especially not me, the mother of the princess. (I suppose technically that would make me the queen, but trust me, the job is more like the housekeeper than queen.) For whatever reason, I was up every hour putting the princess back to bed. She woke up congested and snotty, which is fun.

Every good housekeeper knows that Monday mornings are your busiest, you have laundry to do, dishes to wash and put away, floors to mop and sweep. Not if the princess has anything to do with it! So this morning this housekeeper cleaned the stovetop with a certain princess on my hip, tiara and all. (I kid you not, she was wearing a tiara.) Afterward she deigned to sit in her royal throne (aka her highchair) and drink her milk while I scrubbed the dirty floor under her feet. Dirty by her doing, mind you!

Thankfully my oldest has no such delusions of grandeur (despite occasionally fancying himself to be a Jedi Knight), most of the time he falls in with the help, like the rest of us. A mere squire in the princess' service. Perhaps a court jester when necessary.

This started out as a joke, truly. But now I'm beginning to realize just how much this little girl runs the show around here. We'll have to wait and see how the princess handles travel this summer. The good news is, despite being a miniature tyrant, she is quite charming, and all her subjects are quickly won over by her sweet personality. And then she'll insist you feed her all your food...

I have to go now, the princess is shoving her brother's colored pencils into the heating vents...