Emily and Ariel

This was the moment Emily had been waiting for.

Last time we were at Disneyworld, we had waited in line to meet Ariel for probably 30 minutes when a monsoon hit and we had to abandon the line to try to find shelter. Plus, we were there in July (terribly crowded), and even though we had waited for 30 minutes, it was clearly going to be at least another 30 minutes or more before we'd get to meet her.

Sound silly? It was. But knowing how much Emily loved Ariel was what prompted us to make the decision to wait. And then we never got to see her.

Thank goodness the September crowds are not nearly as bad as July. This year, as Jason, Mom and Dad took Jake and Ashlyn to several other rides, little Miss Emily and I waited a mere 25 minutes to meet her favorite character! When asked about her favorite part of the whole trip, she has repeatedly replied "Meeting Ariel!"

So, in honor of this event, I have decided to post something I wrote last year about Emily and her favorite princess. This was written July 9, 2008:

Yesterday at lunch as I was sitting across from my Emily, I looked up to find her combing her hair with her fork. If you've never seen "The Little Mermaid", then you wouldn't know that she was mimicking Ariel, the red-headed, sea-dwelling star of the movie and sweet Emily's favorite princess.

I don't know exactly how many times I have heard the phrase, "Mommy, I'm a princess named Ariel....", but I know that it is at least once a day, and usually more. After her declaration, she then proceeds to tell an animated story, completely made up (and usually really lengthy) about how maybe she went to Wal-Mart or went to visit her friend Belle.

She also likes to use her character as an opportunity to refer to me by my first name. "Hi, Amy", she'll say, "I'm a princess named Ariel". And then she continues to her story, and sometimes will go ahead and burst into a very loud and full-of-vibrato song.

I know that these are precious days, and there is nothing in this whole wide world that I would trade for my little princess. I love the way she twirls her hair, I love the way she wears her "high" heels, I love the way she names every living thing "Sparkles", I love that she only wants to wear dresses (and has about a 4 or 5 dress rotation). I love to paint her nails pink, I love listening to her stories, and of course I LOVE hearing her little voice singing at the top of her lungs. She is our princess right now, and I will cherish every twinkle in her little eyes. And the best part about it is that I can truthfully tell her how she can be a real princess--a daughter of the King of Kings.