The Prairie Princess

She leads a pink and purple life, wears dresses every day, save the occasional skirt on casual Friday. Extracurricular activities include impromptu (yet always fully costumed) ballet shows and reciting the Disney princess storybook player in its entirety while riding her pink bike up and down the driveway. The reach and clarity of her princess radar is astounding, and a bit troubling for this mama who is far from the princess enthusiast. (Yeah, Cinderella, that's my nice way of saying I despise you and your prissy little friends.)

So you can imagine my relief and delight when my five year old started asking me to braid her hair to be just like Laura's. Or when she told me she couldn't fall asleep because she needed Pa to play the fiddle. And then there was the time last week when she said she'd changed her mind about a career in costume design for ballet shows. "When I grow up, I'm going to write about all the stuff from when I was a kid, like Laura did, so that kids can read the stories, and they will love it. And I'll paint some pictures to go in there too, like an artist, but mostly I'm just going to be a writer 'xactly like Laura."

She added, "The only thing is, I wish I could have golden hair like Mary's. But probably my hair could turn golden when I get bigger, right Mama?" (Yes, Darling, anything is possible for a girl like you. You just have to dream and believe dye it.)

Whatever the case, whether blonde or brunette, it seems my daughter and I have finally found a role model we can agree upon, our very own prairie princess.

So keep your tiara, Cinderella. These sun bonnets will suit us just fine.