Princesses and Gracious Behaviour

Here we have three little princesses. Three little happy princesses. There is a bit of a story behind these happy faces, a bit of finessing on Ilona's part, and a fair amount of grace on Ella's.

Ella arrives with two princess outfits. Two. Too bad there are three wannabe princesses in this house. Now, Ilona does have a small dress-up bin, but, predictably, no one wanted to wear the boring old dresses when there were brand new! exciting! bona fide PRINCESS DRESSES crying out to be worn.

Hmmm...

I tried to get someone to choose the dress-up clothes, on the off-chance that it could happen voluntarily.

HAHAHAHAHAH... you all laugh.

Yeah, I know. But it never hurts to give them the opportunity to surprise you. Even when it's not at all surprising when they don't.

So. What to do? Well, what I opted for was this: Pulling Ella aside, I suggested that since she got to wear her princess dresses any time she liked at home, and that Nora and Addie could only wear them today, that it would be a very nice thing to let them wear her dresses.

With absolutely no hesitation at all, she said, "Okay!" That was surprising in and of itself. She put the icing on the surprise cake when she did it cheerfully. Now, you could see it cost her, but she did it. Cheerfully.

Wow.

And so Ilona decided that such gracious, unselfish behaviour could be rewarded with a little something. So up we went to my room, where Ella chose my blingiest shawl (those are red sequins! the shawl has SPARKLES!!!), and my sparkliest bracelet, so that she could be a Very Fancy Princess.

Ooooo, sparkles...

Please note that the possibility of shawl and bracelet was not offered until after Ella decided to let her friends wear her princess dresses.

I was very proud of her! And she looks pretty pleased with herself, too -- as she should be. Lovely to see them growing up!