Girl’s Life

I admit that I have whined a little here and there about Sophia’s princess obsession. She’s supposed to be above Disney’s attempts to teach her how a prince galloping onto the scene will ensure her “happily ever after” ending, right? OK, OK, if she wants to go all princesses and Disney, that’s fine. But I didn’t expect her to suddenly pull a 180 recently and start choosing dark lords and jedis over wicked step-sisters and fairy godmothers (I admit, I exaggerate - there has been no ditching of the fairy tales on Sophia’s part. She’s simply added galaxies far, far away to the mix.)

Sophia got her hands on a light saber recently at a friends house (it even had sound effects) and was beyond excited. It was as if a whole new world had been opened to her. Sure, her dad has been trying to teach her the intricacies of jedi, sith and droids whenever he had the chance. But the thrill of this other world didn’t sink in for her until the first swing of that light saber. Then her fate was sealed.

This morning, as we were getting dressed for the day, she started grabbing random books out of the basket by her bed. She was really excited about one in particular. One that had not previously been in her regular book rotation. A new book mama had not seen?

“Look at the robot book, mommy!”

Aaah, I see now that daddy had his hand in picking out last night’s story. She was happily waving around a Star Wars book. She pointed at each character and I racked my brain for their names.

Sophia: “Who’s dat?”

Amy: “Um, that’s C-3PO.”

S: “Tree-pee-o? Ah, OK! What’s that guy?”

A: “That’s his little pal R2-D2.”

S: “Are-tee-vee-o? Ah, OK! What’s that guy?”

A: “Oh shoot. What’s that guy’s name again? Oh yeah - that’s Obi-Wan Kenobi!”

S: “Wee-wan menobi?”

This went on for awhile, as I tried to explain Storm Troopers to a 2-and-a-half-year-old’s question of “What they do?” and as she tried to make sense of it all. (As a side note: you want a really good sci-fi story? Have a toddler write it. That stuff’s all kinds of crazy! Take note, Mr. Lucas!)

But then we got to the sticking point, and I realized this Star Wars thing might just have some lasting power after all for my queen of fairy tales. You should have seen her eyes light up when I mentioned that there was a princess in this story. You better believe she could point out Princess Leah on every page by the end of the book!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go read up on my Star Wars trivia so I can correctly name the rest of the characters in her book. Looks like daddy wins the happily ever after in this story.