Celebrations: Curtsies to a Little Princess

A son is a son until he comes of age. A daughter is a daughter all her life. – Gaelic Proverb

Yes, yes. I am weeks late for my Little HRH’s birthday post. I have started several drafts, but none seem good enough for progression. The thing is, I am finding it rather hard to come up with a decent one. It is inexplicably far harder to write hers than Captain Awesome’s. Perhaps, it is because there is a huge part of me that is in denial of her growing up. She turned six this month, for crying out loud! How has my baby girl grown up so fast?!

As everyone who has seen me with my children may have observed (with some passing judgment), I am more gentle with her than with Captain Awesome when it comes to discipline. As I have read so many times since I first learned that I was about to have her, and learned through my own personal relationship with my own mother, a mother’s relationship to her daughter is very, very delicate. As a matter of fact, many parenting and psychology materials say that it is an inevitable stage of growing up for daughters to feel embarrassed by their moms. Particularly moms. So, I am very, very careful of what to say for and about my Little HRH.

Unlike the congenial, Captain Awesome, Little HRH is very shy and quiet when around new people. This, however, does not mean she goes unnoticed. Wherever we go, people – children and adults alike – are magnetized to her natural beauty and charm. Her unintentional hard-to-get demeanor makes everyone scramble for her attention where some resort to little bribes in the form of chocolates, candies, toys and other things. Sadly (for them, but proudly for me), her time and attention cannot be bought. Her little eyes (and unadulterated perspective) have got to see something special in someone for her to be willing to build a relationship.

Nobody breaks her shell. She opens it up for those she feels comfortable with. Once open, people will see how much of a funny girl she is. She is our own version of Tina Fey, with her sharp-witted jokes and remarks that send us laughing as if it were the funniest thing on earth.

She is the sweetest thing in the world, giving unexpected hugs and kisses to those she holds dear in her heart. As if those are not enough, she randomly writes letters and/or craft something artistic for her mommy, daddy, big brother and grandparents (the ones living close to her now and the ones she used to live with in the Philippines).

She is very imaginative and is madly in love with creativity, preferring an opportunity to create a piece of art over television. She tells stories like a Greek poet in public, which sometimes borders to lying when Um and I are “investigating” on a mischief behavior. LOL.

She loves music – singing, humming and dancing to every song from Disney and Nickelodeon, and of her favorite music artists. What little girl does not? However, she also explores her own musical talents by coming up with three- or four-line songs with original tunes. My favorite is the one she made for me on the spot while playing with the voice recorder on my iPhone.

Little HRH hours old with Faja

Her creativity expands to the kitchen where she bakes muffins and cookies, decorating them with frostingsand sprinkles – the primary step of becoming what she dreams of: a chef.

She is a delight to her teachers, a BFF to her aunts (and ates back in the Philippines)and the apple of my dad’s eyes.She is the family’s little princess.

She calls me her best friend. And last night, she initiated a pinky-swear that we will be best friends until we die. Though, of course, I am aware of the seemingly inherent mother-daughter conflict when girls reach their teens. And I am dreading the day she comes around and knows better: that her mommy is not Wonder Woman.

For now, though, I am taking full advantage of the countless hugs and kisses she gives me everyday, and her letters that say the words “I Love You, Mommy” over and over. I am trying my best to live up to her notion of me as a superhero and that my embrace is the safest place in the world. And I am oh so delicately protecting her trust in me.

She is my darling baby girl. My capricious indulgence. My light to every room. My breath of fresh air.