Diva

Not knowing the gender of our baby was so much fun. Just when the allure of pregnancy was getting on my last nerve, I was reminded of the great big surprise awaiting us. I still get giddy thinking about the hours leading up to her birth and feeling high on the excitement and anticipation of learning all about who this little person would be. The caveat to that is I hate gender neutral clothing. Not knowing if we would have a girl or boy meant not being able to explore the vast world of online childrens boutiques. I have made up for nine months of lost time by shopping on a regular (make that daily) basis. And of course many of these purchases can be justified- it is considered highly inappropriate to parade around a naked baby unless A) they are three minutes old or B) you are shopping at Walmart. So clothing purchases are necessary. And if I'm buying clothes anyway, they may as well have lace, ruffles, or animal print and matching bloomers, matching hats, matching headbands, matching shoes...you see my problem? But it doesn't end there. Matching sunglasses? Yup. We've got those, too. And some other not necessary but totally darling purchases made for this gal include earrings, an anklet and most recently an itty bitty bracelet. Why am I telling you this? As a precursor to my point of this blog entry. (Mark tells me 1,824 times per day that I take too long to tell a story. He may be right.)
During one of my nursing sessions I was cruising the information super highway (that means Internet, right?) because I was interested in learning about Sweet P's astrological sign and Chinese zodiac. I am not normally a huge believer in horoscopes but I do think that the Chinese zodiac is interesting in that it only repeats every 60 years. (12 animals and each animal has one of 5 elements attached to it. This is the year of the snake. More specifically 2013 is the water snake. 1953 was the last year of the water snake. Cool, right?) Well there are many qualities that I will be thrilled for P to have- "motivated, insightful and highly intellectual". Score! But then--- then there is this: very materialistic even if it means they have to scheme or plot to get what they want. Yikes! And then it donned on me that I was turning my girl into the snake the Internet warned me about! She is a high maintenance diva and it is partially my fault. (Only partially because some blame must fall on her father for buying her the anklet, her Gigi for all the headbands, and the Chinese zodiac for putting ideas in my head.)
Certainly our intentions are to raise P with an awareness for how fortunate she is with an appreciation for all she has. But at 11 weeks old does she need really 12 pairs of shoes? Of course not. But then again, I have been told you can't spoil a baby. And won't she be my baby forever?