Powers of persuasion

I just spent the past 5 hours cleaning out my daughter's room. And when I say cleaning out, I mean it.

She's usually gone for weeks at a time during the summer on exotic vacations with grandparents or friends so I've always utilized that time to purge unwanted Happy Meal toys and the stacks of drawings and coloring pages that accumulate in her desk drawers. This year Cross Camp afforded me the opportunity a little earlier in the summer than normal.

I started with the closet and worked my way around. I went through every toy bin, every basket, every drawer, every shelf, every everything.

And oh the treasures I found. Many of them caused me to get a little weepy since I'm on the cusp of losing my baby girl to tweendome any second now. And it certainly didn't help when that sweet song by Darius Rucker came on the radio. You know, the one about a little girl growing up. Have you heard it?

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So, he's tryin’ to hold on
‘Cause it won’t be like this for long

Yeah. I might have cursed Darius Rucker and all he holds dear in that moment. I can't really remember.

Anyway, as I was sorting through the mountains of stuff I started noticing a trend. It started with an old cut-out picture I found stuck in her toy box. Then it was the front of an old diary. Then it was the cover of a DS game. One by one I found them. And they all looked exactly like this:


Now, I have tried to be careful about listing our reasons for not supporting MC and the HM empire any longer. I've used words like "bad choices" and "disappointing behavior". I'm pretty sure I never said "devil with a pitchfork" or "pirate with a missing tooth". But I suppose the message has gotten through loud and clear. Especially since I tend to roll my eyes or make a face like I just swallowed a bug whenever she comes on TV.

As much as I would love to lecture The Ocho on why we don't deface things that Mommy, Daddy & Santa paid good money for, I can't do it. So,let this be a lesson to anyone out there who might have a picture of themselves somewhere in our home. Don't start making bad choices or exhibiting disappointing behavior. The Ocho has a Sharpie and she's obviously not afraid to use it.