She Has All of the Colors of the Rainbow

My sweet little girl. Sometimes I just don't know what to think of her. She is such a mixture of sweet and sassy, generous and stingy, polite and cheeky, easy-going and stubborn. Just like the now-famous analogy of life being like a box of chocolates, the same can be said of Audrey - you never know what you're going to get. She has all of the colors of the rainbow.

Speaking of rainbows - she loves them. And every other girly-girl thing. She still loves pedicures. And manicures. And make-up (especially "lips sticks"). She loves shoes. In fact, just today we took Grammy to the mall to get a hair cut, so we decided to walk around while we were waiting. Audrey started to get a little cranky (admittedly, nap time was fast approaching) so we went into a shoe store... and instantly the crankiness subsided as her senses were overcome by the smell of patent leather and the allure of sequins and bows. Immediately, she kicked off her flip flops and began trying on all the "pitty shoes" - there is no medicine like shoe shopping for my little girl. She loves dresses and dressing like a princess.

(Case in point.)

Audrey loves flowers and butterflies. And pink. And purple. She loves purses and telephones. She loves dolls and Barbies (especially when they are modeled after a Disney Princess).

She loves taking her "Pincess Rella" and dancing and twirling with her. On this particular Sunday a few weeks ago, Audrey dropped her doll in favor of dancing with a freshly picked tulip.

Yay! Look at me! So pretty! And girly! And dainty!

She was so sweet and gentle and feminine.



But beware.




Just when you think you have this cute little girl figured out...

she will prove you wrong by...

ruthlessly shredding that same flower she was just so careful with.

And then she'll follow that by going on a bug hunt - looking under rocks and along the cracks of the sidewalk.

One minute she will be singing (a princess song or a primary song or Elmo's Song) and giggling like the cute little girl she is, and the next she'll be growling and making monster noises.

She loves to run as fast as her cute little legs will allow her toward you demanding to "wing" (hold her by the arms and spin her around as fast as you can until you feel like you're going to throw up). And then right as you are setting her feet back on the ground she is demanding to do it again. "Gain. Gain. Gain! Wing! GAIN!!" And trust me, if you are the one who is swinging her, you will beg for mercy before she does. It's like the kid doesn't get dizzy. Or sick. Or woozy. Ever. The faster and the higher and the longer, the better.

She loves to rough-house and wrestle. She loves to run and skip and nothing - not even a skinned knee - will slow her down for long. She is adventurous and fearless.

And I love it.

I love her spunk.

And her spirit.


One of my favorite pictures that illustrates this dual nature in my sweet little spunky girl was snuck while she was taking a nap. On this particular day she had insisted on wearing her Cinderella dress from last Halloween. That's the girly-girl princess side of her. The adventurous, spunky side is represented by her favorite pillowcase:

Yep, that's Superman. This pillowcase is easily a couple of decades old (it's Adam's favorite from his own childhood) and Audrey loves it. She also loves this Superman throw blanket (also Adam's from a few Christmases ago).

My pampered princess who loves adventure and fun.

May it always be so.