Where's your box?

Tonight as we attended a Fall Festival at our church I noticed all the little girls in their costumes. Princesses, fairies, cheerleaders, divas, and cute little bugs with bows in their hair filled our church parking lot. And then there's Savannah.



Savannah: I want to be Batman momma.



Me: Uh, how about Bat girl?



Savannah: No, how about Spider man?



Me: You could always be Wonder Woman. She's REALLY cool!



Savannah: No, I want to be Batman or Spider man.



Me: Savannah, look at this pink Super Girl costume. She has an S on her cape. Do you know what the S is for? Super Savannah! This is the best costume ever!



Savannah: Mom, I want to be Batman or Spider man.



And this has been going on for 2 months. She wanted to be M-O from WALL-E for a while (she would pick an abstract robot that no one has ever heard of) but I finally convinced her to be one of the Incredibles (she is Violet, the super hero daughter in a family of super heroes).



I have no one to blame but myself. For a brief moment last summer she mentioned she wanted to be a princess for Halloween and I must admit I was disappointed at the lack of creativity. I think I even told her "But every other little girl will probably be a princess." And let's face it, Disney has oversold us on the princess thing and to be frank it doesn't sound that fun to be cast as a princess in real life. They have to follow a lot of weird rules.



Anyway, our little girl dances to the beat of a different drum, one that only she can hear. Tonight at the face painting booth, she was asked what she wanted painted on her face. My sweet girl picked up the pink paint and said, "An eye." The girl at the table replied, "A pink eye?" I said, "Savannah, that's a disease honey, how about a nice flower or a heart, ("like all the other little girls," I was tempted to add)" We went home with our four eyed super hero girl.



It's not that I am a diva in waiting or anything. I'd rather hike across Europe than spend a day at the spa. But, I am more than happy to strap on stilettos for a 5 star dinner in NYC. It's all about balance and being well rounded. But lately, Savannah statements have sent off alarms in my head that maybe I am not encouraging girlyness enough. Let me accumulate her most common statements for you, "I don't ever want to get married or have a baby in my belly. Never. I want to be a super hero!"



Yes, it's funny and I know it's a stage. At least she wanted the eyeballs on her face to be painted pink! It just makes my life more difficult that she wants to be different in every aspect of life for reasons that would be too long to explain. Even so, her uniqueness is what I treasure most about her. So what if her favorite colors are black and red instead of pink? It doesn't really matter that she doesn't play "momma" with her dolls does it? She's an out-of-the-box kind of kid. OK, maybe she's so far outside of her box that she has lost her box, but that just gives her more room to grow. And I can't wait to see what kind of super hero she becomes.