My Belle

Livvie is finally sitting and watching Beauty and the Beast. I'm inordinately happy about this. Yes, Belle becomes a princess at the end, but for most of the movie she's an odd little bookworm who finds herself in curious circumstances and handles them very well.

The princess thing. Sigh. I just don't know. The only princess I wanted to be as a kid was Princess Leia, because she could fire a blaster and kill storm troopers but she still looked great in a flowing white gown. Also her hair was able to be manipulated into fascinating braids that I could never quite master, and believe me, I tried. She also strangled Jabba the Hutt with a chain. Pretty fucking cool.

I myself don't understand the appeal of princesses to little girls, unless it's the gowns. The gowns ARE quite cool. I have to admit that when it came to prom time (and I went to 3) the gown search was always the hardest bit on me. Everything was poofy, and I tried to avoid poof as much as possible. I also tried to avoid pink. It didn't work. My first gown was pink with Cinderella poofs on the sides with bows. My mother loved it. I felt like I was in drag. My second gown was far more streamlined and was ivory with some iridescence to it. It was strapless, and fell almost straight to the floor. THAT one I loved. Mom wasn't as fond of that one. When it came time for my senior prom I decided to go all out, as ridiculous as I could, and I found an emerald green and white lace Scarlett O'Hara gown that had balloon sleeves and many tiers. It was atrocious, looking back, but it made me laugh and that's all that counts.

A few years ago Nina found a gown on eBay and ordered me to buy it. It's white and has spaghetti straps, floats like a cloud, and has white beaded butterflies on the front and one strap. It's a fairy gown, and I have absolutely nowhere to wear it. I could have worn it to get married, but it would have shown off my tattoos, and my mother would have shat herself. So, it sits in a box for Livvie for her first formal dance. I'm hoping she'll like it. By the way, I won it for $14.

A friend of mine says she has the princess gowns for Livvie when she's old enough to fit into them. You know, to play dress up. I imagine this will be quite fun, as I can imagine her prancing around and ordering beheadings. Kidding. Honestly, I used to play dress up as a kid with my mom's old formals, and I would put on too big for me high heels and prance around myself. It was fun. My mom had many 194os and 50s formal dresses, and that style rocks. It's why I bought a blue dress from the 50s for my wedding. It just made me feel sassy.

So here Livvie sits watching Belle turn into Beauty and fall in love with Beast. So far she's only interested in the music. I imagine in a year I will be dressing her in a yellow gown and pulling her hair back on her neck into a ponytail. And honestly, I won't care a bit.

As long as I can get her the Batman Big Wheel too.