Spoiled or spoiled rotten?

I have to admit it ... my daughter is a little princess and spoiled as such. I have come to the conclusion that there are two kinds of spoiled. One is just simply spoiled and the other is spoiled rotten. My daughter for the moment is only spoiled and I intend to keep it that way. As long as she shows gratitude and appreciation for what she has then I feel she is properly spoiled. The minute she turns into one of those mtv brats on that show sweet16 or the latest installment of the real OC demanding the moon because they can and in some twisted way feel they are owed it simply for being born, well that's when the spoilage has gone too far! WAY TOO FAR!

There are many spoiled rotten children here in Cyprus and some of them are older than me. There are women here in their late 20's early 30's still living at home with their parents paying all the bills. Instead of saving their money they will spend their entire month's salary on the latest Louis Vuitton, Gucci, or Prada bag. The latest cell phone and nicest cars are a must have. The young secretaries at my husband's company drive BMW's and Mercedes! Most of the executives do not drive these cars. You should see the looks I get from some of the women here when I admit to doing my own house work. You can get a livein philipino maid here for about 250 euros a month. I'm sorry but that's just slavery to me. The wage is too small and I could never take advantage of another person that way. I do admit to taking advantage of the babysitting services though! (I can have my daughter watch all night long until the morning for 25 euros! I was at my daughter's soon to be school and I couldn't help but notice all the cute little book bags and lunchboxes lined up along the hall. I saw two versace book bags, and one Ed Hardy for a class of 3 and 4 year olds! What 3 year old knows what Ed hardy is? I mean honestly ... I spoiled Audrey when we were home this summer and bought her a minnie mouse back pack with matching lunchbox from the disney store personalized with her name for a whopping 20 bucks! Incidently, you can order them online at www.disneystore.com on sale now for $13.

We were in the store Monday and they had a bike, my daughter flipped for it and I told her she had to wait and ask her papa. Well, about 6 hours later when we picked papa up from work the first words out of her mouth were "Papa! Ich Liebe Dich ( i love you in german) I Need bike"! (Being a daddy's girl myself I couldn't help but giggle a little at how naturally this came for her.) Well, it is now thursday and she has not forgotten about this bike, and she is asking several times a day for a bike. However, it has now become a cinderella bike! Quite frankly I'm really proud that my husband and I have lasted so long on having yet to buy the bike. We have of course resolved to take our little princess bike shopping early Saturday morning. I have of course done the mommy thing, and searched thoroughly on the internet to find the best ratings and reviews of exactly what kind of bike our little Audrey should have with all the specifications of training wheels, and cinderella graphics that she'll need. They even have bikes that fold, this is especially interesting to me since we could feasibly stick it in our luggage when we travel to the states to grandma and grandpa's house and also when we go to visit Omi in Germany. Now all that is left to be done is to actually find such a specific item on a very tiny island with only 3 halfway decent toy stores to choose from. Now all my friends back home would simply go to wal-mart or toys r us and pick up a bike for their little darling. I however must go to the "toy stores" (or dollar junk stores would probably be a better description of what we have here) and sift through the plastic toys that fall apart in a week or so and find a decent bike probably for double the price in the states. Check back on Saturday and see if we don't decide to import from Germany or the good ole USA via Amazon or some other such entity. Anyway, all this to say my daughter is admittedly spoiled, but she's not spoiled rotten!

Wordless Wednesday #7

ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!

The Mirror

I know you've read it over and over again. I know I have read it over and over again. But, sometimes it's just never so clear as when I see it right in front of my face! Our kids are little mimics especially at the age of two it would seem! My daughter is constantly holding a mirror up to me about what kind of mother I am. What I say, what I do, what I want... she repeats it all! On the one hand it's great to have such honest accountability, and sometimes I'm even proud of what I've taught her. But, other times, I'm so ashamed of how much negativity I've displayed for her in such a short time. She's two and she is absolutely as hard headed, stubborn and obstinant as both her father and I. I feel like I'm constantly saying "No", "Stop that", "Don't touch", "behave yourself", etc ... It just broke my heart the other day when I heard her put her little lovey in the corner and tell her to behave and not behave like a naughty girl. I know little Audrey needs discipline, but right now I feel like that's all I do is deal with negative behavior. The other day I was hurrying Audrey to get moving and she looks at me and says "be patient mommy". In some ways it's funny but in others it does make me take a step back and look at the mirror, am I harming her psychologically and emotionally? Or is this all normal? Is it normal that when I pull up to certain stores my daughter immediately says "don't touch", "be a good girl". These are questions I find myself pondering several times throughout the week. I mean how normal is it that my child takes my credit card and swipes it through the crevice in the exercise machine only to look at me and say "I get some money mommy"? Or that she is absolutely as excited about shoes as I am, and she's already my best shopping buddy. My daughter will walk into a clothing store, pull something off the rack and tell me " look mommy, it's cute" or "cool"! My absolute favorite thing to do in this world is shopping and it would seem that I have already passed this onto my daughter. On the upside, she loves to say the blessing at meals, and say her prayers before bed time. She has excellent manners when it comes to saying please and thank you! She even says them in three languages! She loves to give hugs and kisses, even to very new acquaintances. At the end of the day I'm so blessed to have her and I'm so thankful for that mirror. I absolutely want my daughter to know that I love her more than words could describe and I adamantly refuse to let her develop my temper. I guess all mommies are works in progress just like our children. If we are going to mold our children we have to be reflecting and growing as an artist too?

Wordless Wednesday #6

Happy Birthday To My Best Friend! The most amazing husband and the world's great dad, Timothy!