The Babe

OK, so if you have ever met my daughter your first reaction would be something along the lines of "she is so cute" or "what a princess". Even Santa told her she was "a beautiful little princess" I realize these are typically very nice things to say about my daughter. It makes me proud and appreciative that people see her in such a beautiful light. But as a father who loves to play ball, play with bugs, clean fish and do a lot of boy/guy things it is a bit disconcerting in a small selfish sort of way.

Early on in Amy's pregnancy I had the standard canned response to anyone who asked me what I wanted. You know the one "healthy and hopefully a little boy" or something along those lines. Of course for the same selfish reasons and i had no idea what to do with a little girl. I wanted to show my boy how to play baseball, fish, hunt for worms, oh and there were more toys for little boys in the toy store. Of course Amy set me straight right away about the toys in the toy store by saying little girls can play with all the toys, not just the one in the girls isles. Well after Hannah was born of course most of these feelings went away, and they hardly ever surfaced except a few times when she looked like a pink dwarf monster from planet pom-pom.

Well for those of you who don't know my daughter that well she is the best of both worlds. she loves pink, loves to play with her hair and dress both of us up in princess outfits. But she also loves to hunt for worms, play with bugs, pick her nose (sorry Amy) and of course.... Play Ball! Oh and did i mention she is a little Evil Knievel.

Tonight we played Baseball with her Princess bat and ball. We only threw about 10 pitches before she had to go take her bath with mommy, but she was smacking them like she was playing home run derby against Joe DiMaggio. Mind you she has only just turned three and I can now say she can pitch and bat better than most T-ball players. Of the 10 pitches she hit one grounder and three over my head in the direction of what was pretend left center field. She foul tipped two balls and swung for a miss at only four balls. If you do the math she now has a 400 batting average. Eat your heart out Babe Ruth!

So I guess what I am getting at is for all those fathers who have little girls, or are about to have a little girl. Don't panic or worry if she is a little girly girl. Just smile with pride, say thank you when someone calls her a princess and don't forget to yell "HOME RUN!!!" when she smacks one out of the park with her Sleeping Beauty princess bat. Oh and wearing a tiara and a pink feather boa isn't actually that bad, especially when she belly laughs at you for wearing the tiara backwards like a baseball hat.