Our Lilac Fairy

by Ashley Weeks Cart

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Sunny’s birthday present from me and James was this breathtaking fairy costume handmade by the talented Richelle of Ella Dynae Designs. We’ve been fairly rigid about keeping anything princess, fairy, fairy princess, princess fairy or any other combination you want to throw at the genre out of our home. Lord knows the external world shoves all of that at our girls (our collective girls, not just mine and James’) on a daily basis without our home needing to incubate the trend.

(Let me once again stress the importance of all parents, particularly parents of daughters, reading this book).

This year, however, we had noticed that every time we visited our friends’ homes, Sunny gravitated to their costume trunks of frilly, puffy skirts and velour leotards and wands and crowns and oh my goodness, SPARKLE! MAGIC! GLITTER! My goal as a parent is not to keep princesses out of my daughters’ wheelhouse, but to ensure that my girls have a broad and flexible notion of identity and play. It was clear that Sunny was craving her own fairy make believe, and why shouldn’t that be incorporated into her playroom of cardboard houses, and miniature grocery carts, and tonka trucks, and drawing tables, and blocks, and baby dolls, and Play Doh?

We reconciled the purchase by buying the gift from Etsy, handmade with love by a fellow parent without all the branding and marketing and HOO-RAH Disney, Capitalism, AMERICA! And my god, it is positively, absolutely gorgeous. An heirloom piece that will be passed from Sunny to Kaki and on to the next generation (male or female – as why on Earth wouldn’t any preschooler want to rock the shit out of such awesomeness?! Just pause a moment and imagine how that skirt TWIRLS?! A four-year old’s gold standard. And this one? Well, it twirls with the best of ’em).

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I about fell over when she put it on and completely transformed into a magical Lilac fairy.
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She gave herself the name, as she immediately noticed that her new ensemble matched the abundant array of purple blossoms tucked in practically every inch of our home (gotta enjoy these flowers while they last! Every vase is being put to good work this time of year).

Mama, my costume matches the lilacs! I must be The Lilac Fairy! 

And indeed, she is.

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And the Blower-of-Dandelion-Fluff Fairy.

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After picking this basket full of lilacs for the pictures, Sunny requested that I bury her in lilacs.

She is truly her Momar’s girl.

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She even insisted upon the eye-covering.

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It was a magical afternoon together, and I envision many many more.

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