Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Character love

So it started with a simple fascination with the diapers. The ones with the characters form the only show she watches - Sesame Street. (OK, and a little Bob the Builder on occasion, when I'm tired of cycling through the 7 episodes on demand and need variety, but I digress...)

So at first, she didn't mind so much WHICH character was on the "Cheetool" (Hebrew for diaper), but I'm trying to figure out which kid in daycare to blame for suddenly turning my kid into a character-obsessed-girly-girl! Suddenly, she ONLY wanted the Zoe diapers, she made Mommy and I kiss Zoe, just like she did. She has recently been OK with the other ones, as I simply tell her that we're out of Zoe Cheetoolim, and does she want Elmo or Ernie or Cookie Monster. They all make her happy, so it's fine. (We keep her in the 7th gens by day, but she needs the more absorbent Pam*ers at night). But then! Nayla, in her daycare room, turned two, and gave out Easter baskets to everyone. (oy, another rant, but they DID appreciate the hamentashen I brought!) And IN the basket (after I secretly passed on the uber-sugar crap, but did save a piece or two of "chak-oh-lette" for the Cheeky), were some barrettes. Malka squealed "Zoe!" and pointed. And I was all - HUH? And she grabbed the package of barrettes, and HUGGED THEM to her chest, and squealed "ZOE!" And I felt my sense of self as a parent drop a notch or two.

But at least, she's letting me put a barrette IN her hair now, which might at least, prevent the "how old is HE" questions from being so popular. Because yes, Virginia, even girly girls wear shirts with basketballs on them.

5 comments:

Cait said...

Yeah, now that Natalie's starting to identify colors, she's all about the PINK! She wants to wear the PINK! shirt, or the PINK! underpants, or use the PINK! marker. Sigh.

JT said...

Kinda sounds adorable. Zoe isn't like a pushover or anything- she's pretty spunky. I think she could choose a worse favorite... I wouldn't sweat it too bad. You're doing a great job.

neko and the crocodile said...

You know she might be identifying with Zoe's personality which is kind of interesting since Zoe is pretty self sufficient and confident. She has a pet rock and refuses to deal with Elmo when he mocks her about it. She can spell her name and is very brave and curious. I can think of a few worse TV characters for her to latch onto. For her first TV love, it's not half bad.

You are doing a fab job momma. Kids need characters their own age to latch onto and use for pretend, it's useful for development and imaginary play. As long as you see her taking it out of the TV and into the rest of her life it can have it's uses i.e.; those barrettes :)

I see mani/pedi dates in my future with miss Mp3. Don't worry I'll take her out to a Basketball game after ;)

Emily Cole said...

I agree... if she has to have a favorite, Zoe isn't a bad choice! As for the barrettes - good thing you've gotten them in her hair! I have a friend who insists on having completely gender neutral clothing on her daughter, and of course there are constant questions about 'Is it a him or her?' and I warned her it would get old fast! I understand she doens't want to force 'gender roles' on the child, but there comes a time when the child will need to know she's a girl and not a boy. She can figure out for herself what that will mean for her I think.

Anonymous said...

hey, you're going up against a huge marketing machine. I've used it to my advantage- tooth brushing we use Cookie Monster tooth brush and Thomas toothpaste. if it gets him to do the toothbrushing, it's worth it.
nycreb