The Adventures of Lil' B

"All grown-ups were children first.

(But few remember it)".
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (The Little Prince) ~

Since I don’t think there is anyone reading this blog who has known me since I was a child (if there is, you’re a lurker!), I thought I’d fill you in on what you missed out on in knowing little Breanna. I say this, because I love little Breanna and I still feel a deep connection to her that I try to maintain throughout my grown up years because I feel like she is one of the most valuable parts to me. So let me introduce you... and for the sake of carpal tunnel syndrome, we’ll shorten her name to “Lil’ B”.....

To start with, Lil' B has long, light brown, wavy hair that goes to her butt (but she's young so its not all scraggly looking yet). She has lots of baby fat and tiny baby teeth (her grown up horse teeth haven't come in yet). Lil' B only tolerates the real world long enough to squeeze in her pretend world (let the psychoanalyzing begin!). She doesn't walk because she'd rather tap dance; she doesn't talk because singing is so much more graceful; and she doesn't go by her real name because "Charity Rose" is better.

Lil' B (aka Charity Rose) spends her days showing off her ballerina moves (totally made up), singing skills (she thinks she knows how to do vibrato by shaking her voice), and handstands (that only make it half way up) to the video camera while her mom films. Between pouts (because her mom insists on announcing her entrance the wrong way), Lil' B. flounces around in front of the camera in her leotard and whatever shiny accessories she found in the dress up closet that particular day, whether it be a pink feather boa, a princess crown, a tutu, or ruby slippers her mom made (shoes covered with shiny red cloth because that was before the Target empire picked them up).

When she is not being the center of the universe (pause to psychoanalyze again) Lil' B is playing with her cousins, Jeffrey and Bethany and allowing her little brother, Ross, to tag along if he does everything she says and doesn't ruin her plans. Their favorite games to play are: restaurant, house (Ross is always the dog), and who can forget "Amy Grant- Ariel-Mermaid" in which Lil' B is the REAL Amy Grant Ariel Mermaid and Bethany is her identical twin (poor Bethany always had to give in to bossy Lil' B). They often ride their bikes around the coldasac (Lil' B in complete costume of bathing suit, tights, a huge jacket, and jellies), jump on the trampoline until time for bed (or until someone starts bleeding- which ever happens first), or break from swimming to watch a dorky Christian movie while eating PB&J.

Lil' B has all kinds of hopes and dreams. Her ultimate goal in life is to be "a pretty and cool teenager who hangs out at the mall with her boyfriend" (direct quote from her diary at age 7). Beyond that, she hopes to be either a famous singer or pet groomer (you know, which ever one works out). These goals change whenever she reads a book or sees a good movie, in which case she wants to be whatever profession is highlighted by the characters; everything from a social worker to an interior decorator (impressionable you think?!).

On the rare occasion that Lil' B does live in the real world rather than in her own imagination, she spends her time helping her mom take care of her baby brother and picking once a month service projects that her mom helps her choose. Lil' B is often very worried about the people who don't love God and people who are sad and hurting in the world and her mom spends a lot of time teaching her how to help and care for these people. Lil' B is happy to do this because she knows it makes Jesus and those people happy and that makes her happy. She is very careful to always follow the rules so that she doesn't make Jesus sad (and because she is scared to death of getting into trouble!). In school she gets put next to the boy who always gets other kids into trouble by talking to them because her teacher knows she will go so far to follow the rules as to ignore him completely while he continues to talk to her. But that's OK because he is still her friend and she does not get into trouble. And as long as she doesn't get into trouble, she can still go over to her friend's after school to put makeup on each other. This activity makes Lil' B's mom worry because Lil' B always chooses the very intense teal eyeshadow to layer on solid from her eyelashes all the way up to her eyebrows and she insists on hot pink lipstick to go with it and that's alot even for the '80's (needless to say, her kind mother does not allow her out in public after playing makeup). I'm sure it scared her dad quite a bit too, but he was reassured that she was still his little girl because she still wanted to hold his hand when driving and play footsies with him under the table just to make sure that he was still near her.

So now maybe you can see why Lil' B is still important to me and why I try to remember her often. She is full of things that I never want to forget about myself.

Pictures of Lil' B
The only picture with an actual Halloween costume, is the picture of Dorothy at the top, the rest were just every day attire!

I bought dresses based on how much they would twirl when I spun around and by how puffy the sleeves were. You can't tell but this one had the best puffy sleeves!

Aren't those earrings beautiful?! (Maybe that's what he's laughing at).

Yep, just another normal day at our house!

I specifically remember my mom telling me this "outfit" was too small to wear anymore. I specifically remember not believing her. Thanks for trying mom.

If you had a leotard with a bear in a tutu when you were little, you would've worn it every day too!

"Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: "What does his voice sound like?" "What games does he like best?" "Does he collect butterflies?". They ask: "How old is he?" "How many brothers does he have?" "How much does he weigh?" "How much money does his father make?" Only then do they think they know him.
If you tell grown-ups, "I saw a beautiful red brick house, with geraniums at the windows and doves on the roof...," they won't be able to imagine such a house. You have to tell them, "I saw a house worth a hundred thousand francs." Then they exclaim, "What a pretty house!"
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (The Little Prince)~