Bootiful birthday princess

I have no idea how it happened, but I have a very girlie girl, a very girlie girl who just turned three. Both are shocking facts for me right now. She got tons of clothes and dress up items for her birthday, including two poufy dresses, patent leather shoes and wings from my mom, a whole trunk of dress up clothes from Jennifer and fancy plastic jewelry from Tia. Just adorable. I need to count my blessings that I can get away with giving her a bunch of clothes for her birthday this year. She got a few toys, including some Play-Doh from Fafa, Candy Land from me and a wand from Mary, but by and large it was clothes and new bedding for her bed (not that the new bedding kept her in her bed overnight; she still ended up in my bed sometime between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. this morning....)

I am loving that she's turning to be so interested in girl things. Certainly I gave her plenty of opportunity to play with Andy's Thomas the Tank Engine trains and Hot Wheels cars, but she's very interested in clothes and princesses right now. I did get her Beauty and the Beast which we watched last night. Musically, it's not my favorite Disney show, but the message is clearly a good one. Belle is strong and smart and the Beast (eventually) seems to truly care about her and her happiness and not just be into her for being beautiful or having a pretty voice. That Prince Eric from the Little Mermaid is such a wuss and it's all about Ariel giving up everything for him and he's barely even interested in her as a person so long as she can sing.

Girly parts

After three years of changing diapers on a boy, I must admit that looking at a little girl naked looks very strange. Boy parts are just so obvious somehow - nothing hidden, it's all out there. With Meg, it has taken me a little while to get used to her diaper because I hate to, you know, invade her privacy. Somehow it seemed natural to invade the privacy of a boy, but you know how girls are. God, the gender stereotyping starts at hour one. I did ask my pediatrician about what to clean, just to make sure. Her answer (if you're curious) was just to clean the poop and leave the girl parts alone unless there is poop there. Makes sense.

What is also startling about changing a girl is when she pees on the table. Penises just shoot at you so it has taken me by surprise several times when she has peed on the table. "Hey, that's weird. What's all that water? Hey..." She's done this every couple of days since birth and it STILL surprises me.

Speaking of girl parts, Andy is fascinated with my "bleasts." When I'm nursing Meg or pumping, he really wants to come and stare at my chest. I am trying to play it cool and use real terms in the hopes he'll leave me alone, but I'll admit, as natural as it is, I do find it a little creepy.