Mama's girl

When I first found out I was having a girl, I remember that one of my first thoughts/day dreams about her was about how close she and I would be and how being "the girls" of the family would make us inseparable. I know I may have been expecting a lot from a baby, but initially I was surprised at how, while she seemed to loved me, it did not seem to be a lot more than she loved others. For a long time she was very much a daddy's girl, and while I enjoyed the sweetness of that, I sometimes wondered why, as a fellow female, I wasn't preferred. I was even more suspect when at times it seemed other woman seemed more interesting than me, even reaching out to random strangers standing behind us in a check out line. I had mostly accepted that this was just part of her outgoing personality and decided not to take it personally; however, recently things have changed. As of the past month or so she has become quite the Mama's girl. All of a sudden I am her constant number one. Not only does she want me to be with her all the time, but she wants me to be the one that does everything for her. She is also is very interested in everything I do and wants to be involved wherever possible.

This recent development came at the perfect time, since the annual Father and Son's camp out meant we would have some real mother daughter time. In past years our "girls' nights" were mostly just another (slightly quieter) evening at home, but being a year older this time I knew she was ready for a little more fun.

Despite the fact that I was very excited about the evening ahead, all Ruby really wanted to do was stow away to Father and Sons.

She almost disappeared among the pillows.


I didn't think I was going to get her out of there until I used the magic word--nail polish. I had only polished Ruby's nails for the first time the week before, but already she was in love. With the promise of purple nail polish she happily jumped out of the truck wishing the boys farewell.


Once the boys were gone I told Ruby we could play whatever she wanted. To my surprise she chose to play "ball". "Ball" was not exactly what I had envisioned for our "girls' night", but having her light up with joy as we played definitely was.


In my effort to give my kids quality one on one time, I sometimes overlook Ruby because he seems like she already gets all of my time (a lion's share at the very least). However, having real one on one time with her showed me that my previous thinking was miscalculated. The one on one time we had together was pretty wonderful and nothing like the "all" of my time she normally gets. She was a different girl when she had me all to herself. Without feeling the need to continually fight for her rights among her brothers, she was so calm and peaceful seeming to take it all in as I gave her her first at-home pedicure.


After pedicures we enjoyed our "special treat". At the grocery store she often asks if we can get "orange popcorn", (actually, it's more like "orangeeee popcorn") so I knew she would be thrilled with our refreshments. She likes sweets alright, but she's really more of a salty girl. She's routinely unable to finish a whole donut and doesn't like whipped cream (what???), but leave her near a bag of chips or popcorn and good luck getting any for yourself. She doesn't mess around with the salty snacks.


After our snack it was bed-time business as usual. Well...bedtime and a few pictures. Facebook has convinced me that it just wouldn't be a girls night without a few self portraits to document the evening.

Looks like we need a little more practice with the self timer.




Thanks Ruby, for the perfect evening with my favorite daughter.