The ways of the Princess

I've been a mother to 1-3 boys for 7 years now, and while I certainly don't always get them, raising boys does at least have some familiarity to it. Then, a little under a year ago, I became the mother of a daughter and what a ride its been since!

Kenzie is princess extraordinaire. I like to believe a lot of it comes from the fact that she's the only girl and the age gap - she's 4 years younger and at least 3 grades younger than her next sibling, Easton. While that really isn't that large of a gap between children it does FEEL large in this family since the spread between the oldest to youngest boy is only 17 months (Trevor is 10 months older than BJ & BJ is 7 months older than Easton). However, I suppose we also contribute to the princess syndrome in ways we don't pay attention to. She definitely has her father wrapped around her finger already and he's started to compose an apology letter to her future husband for creating such a high maintenance wife! She's the baby and really even her brothers let her have her way most of the time, I guess they figure giving in is easier than listening to that shrieking.

And here in begins the differences. Wow, can she shriek and squeal - the volume is absolutely staggering at times. Boys, they are NOISY but Kenzie is ear drum shatteringly loud. I think even the happy squeal may just break some glass, though the shriek of defiance is a close second.

The other thing I've noticed, and maybe its just me, but she likes to "help". The boys could always care less about what I was doing unless it involved TV, food or leaving. They were not interested in dishes and laundry, but Kenzie is with me and into all I'm doing, no matter what I'm doing every moment she is awake. At first, I fought this. Let's face it, the "help" of a toddler is really a form of slow torture. As if I don't spend enough time doing laundry with four children, I get to fold it all multiple times because of all the "help". Now, I'm learning to enjoy the company and just simply getting used to placing all the dishes in the dishwasher multiple times and endlessly folding and refolding laundry. I have to say its pretty darn cute and I'll take the "helping" over the shrieking squeals any day.

The most shocking difference I've noticed is this seemingly innate sense of girliness. I do not get it at all since I myself am not girly. The boys, they could care less at this point at what they wear. Sure, they may have the occasional opinion but really if its clothes, they are happy. They know as well as I do by now that shortly the shirts will be stained and the pants will all have holes in the knees. Kenzie's latest deal is socks. Sock is one of her first words and she is obsessed with her socks. A friend recently gave me a ton of her daughter's old socks to Kenzie's sock drawer is abounding with choices to accessorize her latest hand-me-down outfit. And opinionated she is. I don't even bother getting her socks anymore. After I help her get dressed she starts "sock, sock" and walks across the floor on tip-toes and up the stairs to her room. She opens the bottom sock drawer and starts rummaging around for the perfect addition. I've tried to make suggestions but she is not having it. After much contemplation she finally arrives at the perfect selection and the amazing part is that while I might not choose it myself, it always MATCHES!! If I gave my boys free reign over their clothes everyday, I can guarantee 3 outcomes: 1) Their wardrobes would be a shambles (more clothes folding!) 2) They would be missing at least one piece of essential clothing (what is the point of underwear anyway, right?) 3) They certainly would never match...