We went to the craft store and bought “wallpaper” full of donuts, ice cream, unicorns, and 10 different flower patterns. I told her that she could be the lead designer and that I would be her assistant. Meanwhile, we were working on her dollhouse together. I tried my hardest Oscar-winning performance to show them all equal enthusiasm, while I obviously had my preferences. She made me pin every single one that she loved which was 99% of them with strong saturated bright colors. House of Hackney, Schumacher, Hygge & West, Minted, etc. Then over the next few weeks, I used my brain and more developed manipulation skills and pulled up only sites where I loved all the options. I was quick to stammer, “of course, sweetie, it’s your room and I want you to love it,” while I panicked inside. ALL of them.” and then the kicker, “ even orange and purple…”. She responded in the most adorable voice on the planet, “Oh no thanks, mama. I did my best “cool” mom act and said, “oh yeah, that’s so fun…but what if it was more like …” and then I plugged in “Scandinavian pink girls room”. These aren’t even “wallpapers” for your wall, they are digital art for your computer (mostly) but they are full of incredible energy and color and, y’all, that’s what she wanted. She squealed and screamed, “I want that! THAT!!!!”. Against my better judgment, I typed that death wish on the keyboard and it all went off the rails. So I sat down with her, innocently, on Pinterest ready to find the “jumping-off point” when she said, “let’s just google unicorn wallpaper”. Not sure where she gets it from:) It’s exhilarating to be her mom. As I wrote about last week, Birdie is extremely enthusiastic about design and color, she feels confident she will be an artist when she grows up, she wants a room that is full of her personality and will not settle. But around age 4-5 they want to be Elsa and Spiderman and you swallow your disappointment, embrace their generic choice, feign enthusiasm, and “Ok! ELSA IT IS!!” Again!! Big kid rooms are the same, unfortunately, but different because a dumb $18 one-night-a-year costume has far less implications than a full room design. The first few years you dress them in a costume that makes you and your friends laugh, like Mario Batali, “Weekend At Bernie’s”, or Dolly Parton (true stories). But much like Halloween costumes, you can only impose your wants for so long before their “youthful” choices and tantrums dominate. I would NOT try to control her effervescent light. I walked into this room design process fully willing to let Birdie’s creativity lead.
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