Pretty Play Date

Most of Ava's friends are boys. It's not that she gravitates toward boys it's just that most of my friends have boys, and, let's be honest, when kids are this age they don't necessarily choose their friends... it's us moms who choose OUR friends and the kids play together by default :) However, Ava is getting to the age where she is beginning to want GIRL friends. She loves her little boy friends and they always have a good time, but unfortunately for her, princesses and dress-up are not games said boys are willing to play (or that their dads want them playing). So, our little princess has been asking me for quite some time to set up a play date with one of the girls in her primary class. When I say asking, I mean begging... repeatedly. The moms and I had talked about it, but never took action. Finally, Sunday I became proactive and invited Ava's little friend Eva (pronounced Ava) for a scheduled playdate Monday morning. Our Ava was thrilled, but oddly nervous. She asked me Sunday night what she should play with Ava and if Ava would like her toys. It was actually sweet that she was so concerned with being a good hostess.

So, Monday rolls around, Eva, her mom and little sister arrive and the playing begins. Eva's sister is about six months older than Jax, so he was excited to have someone his own size around. The Ava's got right to business getting out the kitchen toys and playing a very creative version of "Don't Spill the Beans." Somewhere along the way the dress-up box was opened and its contents strewn across the room. Here's the thing about the dress-up box, it's full, I mean tutus-sticking-out-of-it full, so there are plenty of options. Of the options there are two that Ava isn't quite ready to share: her Dorothy dress from Halloween and her fairly new Snow White dress. These are the dresses she rotates wearing for Quiet Time every day. I know how attached she is to them, but her friend didn't, which created a little little girl tension. I had to think of a way to move their focus out of the dress-up box and I found myself uttering words I swore I never would, "Do you want to put make-up on?" WHAT?! I was a little shocked at myself, but seeing the immediate excitement that poured out of the girls, I knew I couldn't take it back. So, into my closet I went and got a bunch of samples from my days selling Mary Kay. I lined up eyeshadows, blush and lip gloss for the girls, along with their respective application devices. They immediately dove right in and went to work painting their faces.

How does this stuff work?

Ava applied eyeshadow to this one eye for a good five minutes.

The finished product!

I tell you, those little squares of make-up have magical powers! They brought joy and peace and fancy faces to our little home, AND kept the girls occuppied for close to an hour. They scraped every last shimmer of blush and eyeshadow from the strips and applied and reapplied lip gloss until their lips were so slick they could have slid right off their pretty little faces. My only regret was giving them purple eye shadow because it ended up looking like I had clocked them both in the eyes. But they didn't care, they were so happy. It was cute to watch Ava posing and admiring herself in the mirror, batting her eyelashes and making kissy faces. But here's the thing, now she thinks it's an everyday occurrence. I told her she could play make-up the next time we have a play date, to which she replied, "Well then can we have a play date everyday?" I fear I've created a monster.