When I was pregnant for the second time I wanted a girl soooo badly. I wore all pink to the sonogram and I asked the technician and doctor compulsively if they could explain EXACTLY how they knew I was having a girl. Pointing out the labia to me on the sonogram meant nothing to me because all I saw was gray mush. Maybe I was expecting to see a little baby girl in a cute pink onesie and an oversized pink bonnet? “I can tell you that it’s okay to paint the room pink, however nothing is 100%,” the doctor said. I didn’t really believe I was having a girl until I had given birth, and with all the drugs I was given I still thought they brought me the wrong baby.
While still recovering from the anesthesia, my hands reached for this very tiny yet very sparkly baby headband to place around her head. All my little girl dreams while playing with baby dolls had lead up to this moment. I now had a real baby of my own. So we took pictures and I gazed lovingly at my beautiful bejeweled baby. A glittery gift from heaven. I was blissfully happy.
My daughter is perfect of course. However, she has this little indent on her forehead and I can’t help but wonder if perhaps that sparkly headband might have been a little tight around her head. The rational mom in me thinks I’m being ridiculous. However, the paranoid mother suggests that maybe her own vanity resulted in a permanent indent on her daughter’s forehead. Make no mistake; a mother’s guilt begins at conception.
Getting past the new baby worries, I asked my husband to step aside because I was embarking on a frilly rampage. I became the grand marshal of the ruffles, lace, tulle, bows and pink parade. Pink was everywhere. Hot pink, baby pink, fuchsia, magenta, and anything in between. I shopped nonstop for her and made the frilliest most feminine room I could have ever dreamed up. So now that she is older I have let up a bit and I have to admit I am a bit “tutu’d” out. I am still drawn to the pink glamour that is offered in all the girly stores. However, I am starting to feel that if I don’t start adding a bit more muted colors to her wardrobe she will be mistaken for a just a big pile of glitter. If you open her closet you’ll swear Liberace lives in there.
This little Lady Gaga that I have created has just begun the dress-up stage, which includes makeup and jewelry. She puts her play eye shadow on her eyebrows and her lipstick application looks like a scene from “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.” I remember when I was a little girl I would glop on a 1974 cream eye shadow of my mother’s, which was a perfect robin’s egg blue. It seemed logical to rub it on my eyebrows too.
I might have started my daughter on the road to glitter fest but she surely has made it her own ride now. One day she may opt for a more subdued look with khakis and button-down shirts and that will be fine. At this point I may be compelled to adopt a teacup dog named Gigi but I will be fine. For now it’s a wonderful world of sparkly tiaras and feather boas.
