The first daffodil of spring!

Posted by Breeze on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Category: Breeze

It has finally happened! We just came home from a pirate-themed dance class to discover that the first of the thousand (or that’s how it seemed when I was digging the holes last fall and the one before when I was hugely pregnant) daffodils Tulip and I planted has bloomed. Tulip has been looking forward to this event for weeks, so she promptly picked the under-developed bloom as I had promised that when our garden was full of blooms she could pick bouquets for our table.

Daffodils have been my favorite flower since elementary school when my mother let me skip school one day to take me to The Dogwood Arts Festival. She bought me a bunch of bright, cheery daffodils wrapped in green tissue paper, and I’ve never looked back. What could be better than a flower that heralds spring, especially if it catches every ray of sunshine in its center trumpet on that first spring day when you finally find it poking out of the still-cold ground? (Good grief. I’m embarrassed by that sentence. I’m far too cynical to write such steaming heaps of crap. I swear, I only get this way about daffodils and sleeping babies. Honest.)

The daffodil provided an excellent opportunity to discuss our family topic of the week–favorite colors. Thanks I can only assume to the princessed-out girls at ballet class, Tulip has decided that there are “girl colors” and “boy colors.” According to her, her best liitle guy friend couldn’t even have any of her chocolate-covered sunflower seeds because they were pastel colors, which are clearly intended only for girls. So sorry. Maybe they’ll have boy candy next time.

Since my husband and I are decidedly not in favor of such sexist ideas, it was a shock to hear it coming out of our child’s mouth. We’ve taken every opportunity lately to identify different people’s favorite colors and make cross-gender pairs so she can absorb the lesson all by herself. Daddy’s is green, and so is Isabel’s! Ella’s is purple, and so is Pops’! Tulip’s is pink, and so is Zac’s! She’s smart; she knows where her mommy is going with that topic.