Ariel Needs To Go Hang Out With The Latina Whore
I threw open the playroom door like a woman on a mission. Which I was. I scanned the room and spotted it--the Ariel costume. Alexis has been wearing the darn thing so much lately that she hasn't managed to put it back in the closet for even a second.
It was time for me to make the costume "go swimming with the fishes."
Not permanently, mind you. Just for the next few weeks . . . long enough to be sure that it won't make the trip to Florida with us later this month.
We're headed back to Orlando again, with a few days at Disney World certainly high on the agenda. The appointment is scheduled for Bibbiddi Bobbiddi Boutique, of course. Once you've let your kid get princessified, there's no going back. I always make her pick a costume from her stash to take with us. The ones sold in the parks are equal to the quality of those sold at The Disney Store, but at double the price. Actually, considering I buy her costumes/dress-up clothes at The Disney Store during Halloween clearance season, the cost difference is probably close to the equivalent of 25 trips to Starbucks.
She has plenty to pick from . . . Cinderella and Snow White, Tinkerbell and Alice, Jasmine and Aurora, they're all hanging in that closet. And, yet, this year she swears she wants to wear Ariel.
Which, UGH.
The husband and I agree. The costume is fine for playing dress-up, and it's probably one of the better Ariel costumes out there. However, it's still hideous and ill-fitting and generally nowhere near as cute as her other choices. In fact, out of her entire closet of dress-up clothes, it's the only costume I genuinely don't like.
Since we are in agreement that the costume needs to stay home when the kid gets princessified, I figured the best way to handle the situation was to make it disappear. Now. It's like pulling off the Band-Aid. If you wait until the last second, the pain is fresh. I'd rather have time for the pain to dull.
The kid will never know I'm behind the disappearance. She is horrible about hanging her costumes back up, so if one disappears, she just won't know where she left it. She remembers where she left the silver high-heel Barbie shoe, but she doesn't remember where she throws clothes when she takes them off.
She won't know, the disappearance is for the greater good, and there is a united parental front behind the scheme, but yet I chickened out. I CHICKENED OUT.
I stood over that horrible costume, my face twisted in an evil genius grimace, and then stormed right back out of the playroom empty-handed.
I need to grow a pair. STAT.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Reader Comments (22)
I'm a mean mom, when our girlie got princessified it was a surprise, SO no costume needed. And I told her she would sweat right through her costume and ruin it (advantage of torrential heat) so she chose that she didn't need one...and I maybe promised her clothes for her AG when we got home!
Good luck!!
I really want to comment on the costume, but I'm too giddy at the fact that there is a teeny kid cymbal in the foreground! DRUMMAH! DRUMMAH!
Good luck.I think when you finally hide it, she'll notice.
We have a closet full too, and my girls have outgrown them all now. Ariel wasn't even the nicest one we had either, yet it was worn the more than the others. What is it about that mermaid anyway?
I am pleased. It's her princessification after all, she should wear whichever one she wants no matter how ridiculous it looks. You can tease her about it in several years when she realizes what you already know.
P.S.
I would bet money that she notices when it goes missing.
LOL I'm so glad I have boys!
LOVE that pose :)
Go now - quick - make it so!
Have you ever watched 'Say Yes to the Dress?" You need to take a stand now while Alexis is young, or you'll be watching her walk down the aisle in a similar gown.
She does know how to throw a pose.
@Carly--I know, I know. Last year I let her wear Sleeping Beauty even though it didn't like it. Isn't it my turn to live out the princess dream? ;-)
Okay, so when you posted this on Facebook, I totally was in the "get rid of it stat" camp, but now looking at that pic...I'm wussing out right along with you. That pose and the one red glove...priceless!
There's always next year, right?
As a fellow singing redhead, Ariel is my homegirl, but to be honest, there's no way to dress like her without looking slutty or ridiculous. Or both. Alexis, fortunately, only falls victim to the latter category.
And as long as we're being honest, the other Princesses have much cooler outfits, anyway.
And what's up with single red glove? Where is the other one?
@Lauren--The other one is in the closet in plain view. I have NO IDEA why Alexis keeps only wearing one. It's...WEIRD.
And, yeah, Ariel got the lame end of the stick when it comes to costumes. It's that stupid tail.
Eh - I'd let her wear whichever one she wants - these days will be over way too quickly. But if you must, don't get rid of it completely - just "accidentally" pack the wrong one. And then blame Dad. Not that I would ever blame Dad for anything. Ahem.
@Gina--I will not be permitted to pack for Alexis. She has been trying to do it herself for months. The only thing stopping her is my meanness and the fact that her warm weather clothes are up too high for her to reach. WHOOPS.
BULLY!
maybe it is me actually thinking alexis is adorable in that costume and me actually liking ariel, but i am firmly in the camp of let her wear what she wants. my mom let me wear plaid and stripes and polka dots to christmas one year and i love that when i asked her why she would do such a thing and then take pictures i was told that it was important to little becky so she thought why fight happiness when it didn't hurt anyone else. those pictures are still embarrassing, but i'm thankful i was encouraged to have opinions that challenged the norm.
although my mom never would have stood to my demanding certain radio stations since that did actually impact her so you aren't a totally bully.
xoxo
You did the right thing, mom. :)
Maybe she will grow out of it STAT! LOL
absolutely, grow a set. That dress is horrid, and you wouldn't let her wear something trashy & ugly outside the house otherwise (this is, in my opinon) more than her expressing her self as a princess. She expresses herself seven ways from Sunday all the time, and for this one occasion, I think it's okay to pull the "Mom said so" trump card. You don't pull it out very often, and I say, YES! MOM gets a princess dream this year!
Steal it & hide it!
Hi! I just started reading like, a week ago and I think you are too funny and Alexis is way adorable. From the stories my mom tells, she sounds like me when I was a kid. Very independent!
I am divided. First, she's your child. You know best and allowing some comments on a blog influence your parenting style would be crazy, but from the sound of your posts you don't seem like the person who would do that. But since it seems like a lot of moms struggle with their daughters over clothes from the time they can dress themselves until the day they leave for college, I'll just tell you about what my mom did with me.
My mom let me dress myself most of the time because she knew that the pictures later would be hilarious, and she was pretty much like, "whatever she's a kid" but in some cases she did lay down the law and now that I look back I'm grateful because if she hadn't I would have probably never learned how dress myself with real style. I'd still be trying to wear my Easter dress with jeans underneath and a Christmas sweater on top and sandals with socks. When I was in elementary school, I was a fashion disaster because my mom let me wear anything I wanted as long as it was seasonally appropriate. I looked like a little hobo. When we went to church or to see family, she made me at least match. When we had professional family pictures made (basically when money was involved) Mom had 100% say so in what I was wearing. When I was a teenager we had fashion fights all the time, and all the times that she let me win, I lived to regret it. I dressed like a tramp. I have pictures that I am so ashamed to look at that I have actually cried over it. I have gone to crazy control freaky lengths to make sure that my husband never sees most of them. They are that bad. She allowed me to learn from my mistakes without totally embarrassing her though. When she was with me she made me dress like a normal person, and when we visited family and stuff like that. When I went out with my friends I was on my own. If I hadn't dressed like a crazy person when I still lived with her and realized the error of my ways early, I might still be dressing like that now, even though I'm married with a baby on the way. I can't say for sure.
A friend of the family took his little sister and her cousin to Disneyworld at Christmas and their Christmas present was to get princessy, and from what I understand its... expensive. Well, for my budget anyway. The little girls knew how expensive it was and what a treat it was and were pretty much just so darn happy to be there that they wore whatever they were told to wear because they were so excited. Maybe Alexis will just be so happy to be a princess, any princess, that it won't matter to her? But since you are shelling out so much money I can def. see why you would want to have some say so in what she wears. Those memories aren't just for her, they are for you too... but at the same time wouldn't you want to remember her for the way she is now? I dunno. I can't say what I would do because I'm pregnant and it'll be years from now before I have to deal with that.
I do have to say something about the wedding dress thing. My mom helped me pick my dress, and she was just so darn happy I was getting married to a good man that she didn't care what I wore and didn't force her opinions on me. Also, I was paying this time so she knew she didn't get to have a say. If she had been paying, I would have worn whatever she picked out. That's just the way we did things in my family so I dunno. In the end I did choose her favorite dress anyway, because seeing her happiness made me realize that it didn't matter what I wore because I was getting married and I would have the rest of my life to celebrate and it was her very last time to really get involved in dressing me for a big event. It meant more to me to please her than to please myself. Buuut if she had picked something hideous and gross I probably would have chosen my own happiness over hers. Haha. Luckily me and my mom have similar tastes in clothes.
If that pair you are hoping to grow doesn't arrive before your scheduled departure, you can always blame its disappearance from her suitcase on the TSA!
I have a friend who lets her girls wear whatever they want (within the limits of weather appropriateness), and I can't help but look at them and say in my head, "Man are they cute! But they would be so much cuter if . . ." And it is always, "If their clothes matched." Or, "If they were wearing something that didn't look like it had been living under their bed for a week.' Or, "If it acutally fit." In reality, they are totally cute no matter what they wear, and what they wear is a direct reflection of their personality and their own little style. I would be wise to adopt their sense of style not only for myself, but for my own kids as well - no one but me knows that M.aren's ruffly pink shirt goes with the black pants, and no one but me cares if she wears the ruffly pink shirt with a pair of jeans. A little self expression when they are young will no doubt go a long way!
In the weeks leading up to Princessification Juliana and I had the same conversation over and over - she would tell me she was wearing the Ariel fin costume and I would say no she could be any other princess. Over and over...and eventually we agreed on Belle...or nothing.
This - THIS - is when you call one of your besties and she storms in there and takes it to her house for awhile. Then you won't even feel the guilt (much) when you tell her you don't know exactly where it is and you didn't touch it. Friends don't let friends leave Ariel constumes lying around right before Disney. It's in the rules, yo.