2 1/2 years old

In 24 hours I've done 3 things that I never anticipated doing. In fact, these things are basically antithetical to my day-to-day life and outlook on issues like consumerism, Disney, sustainability, health, etc.

1. At the behest of my daughter I drove to Target (first time leaving the eastside/downtown in 11 days) to purchase princess big girl underwear, specifically "Annabella in the Beauty Parlor" underwear. Now, just for the record, our children do not watch TV and there is absolutely no "Disney Princess" merchandise in our house. Up to this point, we have not purchased any character merchandise save diapers and a Clifford book or 2. I re-gift all gifts that serve the primary purpose of indoctrinating kids into some cult of consumerism and/or reducing culture to some bland, cookiecutter, misogynistic fairy tale. Several months ago E was at the children's museum and she met a girl who gave her Annabella and Ariel stickers. We have heard occasionally about the princesses ever since. However, I am tired of changing dirty diapers. We are reading lots of books about using the potty and E announced that it would be easier for her to use the potty if she had some Annabella underwear so off I went to get some. I ended up coming home with Tinkerbell on account of the fact that, apparently, Belle is not popular enough to have her own package and the entire "Princesses" line of big girl underwear was not available in E's size. Hence, Tinkerbell.

2. We were at Joey's house today and E picked up a DVD, Barney's Circus. She told Joey's mom she wanted to "listen to the CD." At which point Joey's mom suggested that E bring it home to watch it. E asked and I said yes. She sat on the sofa this afternoon and watched it.

3. In the interests of science, I just made 3 batches of jello (YUCK!) for tomorrow: red, blue, yellow. Apparently, you can mix the primary colors to create secondary colors. Color theory, a sugar fix, artificial flavor and color, and gelatin (what is gelatin anyway?) all in one sitting!