So This is "Girl"

For many years I maintained that I did not need a daughter.  I had two wonderful little boys and was perfectly content to keep having sons.  I'm glad that God thought differently than I - not because I needed the pink and the frills, or even because I needed a girl.  It wasn't only I, but our entire family that needed one particular girl, and I cannot imagine life without her.  When I say that I am thankful for my girl, it has nothing to do with painted nails, pretty hair, pink dresses, or baby dolls.  Well, very little to do with those things, anyhow.  They do afford some pleasure, but the real thing is Elisabeth.  She's just a really neat human being.  I love watching her grow and make her way in her world.  As she is nearing her fourth birthday, she seems to be having more  distinctly "girl" moments, and they always surprise me a little, perhaps because I'm not looking for them and they show me just how different she is from her brothers (who, in case you are wondering, are also amazing and unique human beings).  

One recent "girl moment" occurred last weekend.  I had taken Andrew shopping for clothes.  He picked out two outfits and a very cool skateboard shirt about which he was most excited, having received a skateboard for his birthday.  When we got home, he ran upstairs to put his clothes away, then rushed back downstairs to play backgammon with Geoff and John.  Huge bag of carefully selected clothing:  completely forgotten.  

On the other hand, when I gave Elisabeth the pair of white dress shoes I'd picked up for her, she promptly tried them on and made the rounds, placing a hand on each of her victims shoulders and insisting they acknowledge her newly acquired footwear.  

"John, do you like my new shoes?"

"Andrew, do you like my new shoes?"

"Lukie, do you like my new shoes?"

"Daddy, do you like my new shoes?"

And then to the dog, "Sara, do you like my new shoes?"

The scene strikes me as particularly funny because I am about as far from a "shoe girl" as possible.  I have no idea where she got this enthusiasm for shoes.

And then, earlier this week, I took all four children out to buy clothes for Easter.  I sent Andrew and John into the boys' dressing room, and Elisabeth into the girls', and positioned myself and Luke between the two.  The boys, who had had a brief lesson in the kindness of pairing solids with plaids rather than plaids with plaids, obediently, but not enthusiastically tried on their outfits, while Elisabeth stood in front of the mirror moving this way and that to get as many views as possible of her new dress and headband.  The smile on her face suggested that they passed every test to which they were subjected.  I hope she always considers herself as beautiful as she did that day, without becoming conceited.  

I also hope this post doesn't portray her as a vain little peacock, for that she is not.  She's a busy little girl who runs with the boys but stops every now and then to remind us that underneath her dirty knees and wild, tangly hair, she is as much "girl" as her brothers are "boy."  

(To do justice to my three beloved boys, you may expect a "boy" post in the near future).