Validation, Part 2, Plus Miscellany


Allie: Mommy, I'm pleased with you.*

Oh, good. I was worried there for a while.


*Where'd she get this from? You'd think I'd been modeling all sorts of stiff-upper-lip distant chilly British monarch-like behavior...

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In front of me on the desk is a half-dressed Little Mermaid not-Barbie doll. Not-Barbie because it's a Disney product (part of a full complement of Little Mermaid gifts from Allie's party), but I find it just as problematic. It's not just the flimsy fabric tail that is guaranteed to be lost within the next 2 days, the anatomically ridiculous narrow waist, the cascading red hair. And I don't mind at all that Sean is playing with the doll as much as Allie is. It's this -- that he has spent an inordinate amount of time taking off and putting on the doll's strapless bikini top. Innocently, of course. But still. I think I need to find Ariel a slightly more modest outfit, preferably one that comes with Krazy Glue.

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Tomorrow is Allie's kid party. I've kept it small: four of her friends are coming over to our house for one and a half hours of tightly controlled fun. I have pumpkin painting on the agenda. For six kids under the age of five. If we and the house survive, I'll let you know how it goes.