You Can't Catch Me, I'm A Girl!

Not long before Christmas, Sprout watched one of several episodes of Between The Lions featuring the story of The Gingerbread Man. As chance would have it, Sprout saw that episode 2 or 3 times in the course of a couple of days and it made a pretty big impression. The first indication that I had of the exact nature of my daughter's new obsession with the gingerbread man was during a visit to a pet store where she broke free of my grasp and ran down one of the isles looking back over her shoulder calling, "You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man." This new freedom of hers made her giddy. When it was time to get dressed in the mornings, or time to change into her sleeper at night, she would wriggle free and run around in circles calling, "Can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man."

Last weekend, my aunt came for a long overdue visit. While here, she was treated to Sprout's wild evasive maneuvers and her gingerbread man chorus. My aunt laughed and said, "Wouldn't that be 'the gingerbread GIRL'? After all, you are a girl." Sprout thought about it for a moment and ever since her calls back to us as she runs away have been "You can't catch me, I'm a girl!"

I really like this new battle cry. It appeals to the feminist in me. (The part of me that dressed her as Rosie the Riveter for Halloween when she was a year old...) I hope that she always feels that being a girl gives her an advantage. I want her to feel valued and special and powerful and vital and invincible.

Tonight, as I scooped her up in mid-stride and planted a kiss on her naked belly, I laughed and said, "Yes, baby mine, but you've forgotten something important. Mama's a girl, too!"