Pretty in Pink

We didn't set out thinking our daughter would be a pink girl.  Yes, her nursery bedding is pink, but the walls of her room are a soft bluish-lavender and the accents in her room are pink, green and white.

Somewhere along the line though, she realized that all the pink toys belong to her and all the pink clothes are hers too. 

We didn't see this realization play out in the real world until we began swim classes a few weeks ago.  Toward the end of the first class, the instructor emptied a bin of balls into the pool for the kids to play with.  Mya immediately reached for the pink ball.  Still, it didn't really sink in until the following class.  When the bin of balls was emptied this time, she ended up with a blue ball.  She cried and cried and called for "my baaall."  And then we figured it out - she wanted the pink one. Thankfully it was still in the bin and we swapped out the awful blue ball for the pink one.

The following class the same thing happened.  Adam was with her when the balls were brought out and swam over with her to get a pink ball.  It was not her pink ball though - this one was a light pink ball and the one she liked was brighter, like the shade of her jacket.  Thankfully again, Adam was able to swap it out for the right one.

A little later the instructors passed out pool noodles.  Mya drew a teal noodle, and immediately started crying.  Adam had to swim over to the side with her and request a pink one that was up by the lifeguard.  She obliged, and all was right with the world again.

Unfortunately, our string of good luck came to an end last week.  The balls were dumped and the two pink ones were passed out to other kids.  Again Mya cried for "my baaall" but there was nothing we could do about it.  She just had to suffer with the green one.  There was no consolation on this and it was at this time we realized this was our fault.  Without even trying, we'd programmed her to believe that if something is pink, it must be hers.

Mya's last swim class for the summer comes tonight.  I think Adam and I both fear what will happen should she not get the pink ball or pink noodle this time around.  Thankfully, we know we'll be spending some time with the kids in their life jackets.  And wouldn't you know it, when we needed to get her a new one for the lake last year, we bought her a pink one.