I have one Mini-Me, Madeleine. She's well read, lazy, imperious, snarky, bitchy, and moody. Then I have the Anti-Me, Meredith. We both breathe air, that's about it.
One of the reason I wanted a little girl was to dress her up in darling little outfits. I was a girly girl and I still am. I prefer dresses. So does Madeleine.
Try to put a girly outfit on Meredith! I dare you! Meredith would scream bloody murder when she was still under two years old. I had no idea why--until I realized that it only happened if a outfit with a tiny bit of frill was attempted.
I went around saying for years "Madeleine doesn't care what I put on her!" until I realized that was because we have the exact same taste and therefore she saw no reason to complain.
Well. So. I adjusted to the idea of Meredith wanting to wear nothing but boy clothes with great grace and a generosity of spirit that one would expect of a saintly person like myself. Screaming "Dammit you will wear this dress for the Christmas picture or else Santa will meet with a tragic accident!!!" was just a temporary aberration, I promise.
So. Now I must deal with a child that hates Halloween. (weeps openly) To me, Halloween is a High Holy Day. I love it! Since I'm a boomer who never grew up, I shamelessly eat candy, dress in costume, and deck the halls. I beg my daddy, I mean my husband, "IS IT TIME TO GO OUT YET?"
Yes, I was even that hideously obnoxious parent who dresses the 10 month old in an costume and goes from door to door, holding the kid up like a bouquet of flowers whenever someone answered the door.
Meredith despises Halloween. She hates candy. She hates getting dressed up. She hates getting scared at some of the more inventive houses. She hates anticipating that she will get scared at some of the more inventive houses.
That's motherhood I guess. I was prepared for them to vote differently, choose different careers, select different lurve partners, drive different cars, and tattoo different bodily parts.
I just thought they'd both like Halloween.
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4 comments:
Is that grounds for disowning? Cause in our house, both of our thus-far-kidless lame asses dress up in a big way just to hand out the candy. I can't imagine a kid not liking it Halloween. And you can't even just put her to bed early before all the festivites b/c she won't go down before 11! Man, what a bummer.
Got a split like that in my family. One daughter is a dressy girly-girl, and the other is the son I never had. It ruins the hand-me-down plan. And we can't go to WDW til I get another adult I can vacation with... one won't go on even slightly scary rides, and thats all the other wants.
My son was a Halloween freak beginning when he was barely two. People would have scary stuff out or freaky fake knives thrusting around, but when they saw him, they'd tone it down. We'd have to tell them to crank the fear factor back up. The kid loved it.
For me, tho, I'd rather him like and be attached to Halloween than the other holidays. It is tough for my mindset to worry about Xmas trees and Easter baskets - but I do it anyway.
I have a friend with daughters like yours, frou-frou older vs. tom boy younger. I often think that nurture doesn't matter in the least if basics like house/food are provided. Nature rules all.
Aw, tell her to come to our house. She doesn't have to dress up, we'll take her nasty candy off her hands (and put it in my cupboard), and she can just watch tv in her jammies while the adults drink Halloween beverages. That's right, we know how to celebrate Halloween in style over at our house.
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