“Salagadoola”…
With all the talk lately about the royal baby, and kings, and princes, I just could not get excited. I guess the reason was that I spent the whole day two Sundays ago with a real Princess. I’m sure she was real cause she told me so. From the first good morning smile with a “hi grandpa” attached, to the final “goodnight grandpa smile,” I was surely in the Magic Kingdom. Right after getting the Princess dressed and having our breakfast, it was full on 110 percent “princessing.”

“Mechicka boola”….
After breakfast I was told to get out the princess dress, well it was actually – “I want a dress from my room” to which I asked, which one? The purple one- of course. Her Abby Cadabby dress always serves as the Princess dress. – I should have known that right? “ I need my glass slippers too Grandpa.” Where are they I asked”. In the box with the shoes” said the Princess. Duh, I thought. Her purple jelly shoes were her glass slippers – like I was supposed to know that too. “ I need them so we can dance, Grandpa”. Could this day get any better? And dance we did – more like hopping – but I will take a hoppy dance with my almost 3 year old granddaughter, or should I say Princess, any day.

“Bibbidi”…
“ I need my Magic wand Grandpa,” There it was – on the mantel where it stays for safe keeping. A long wooden handled magic wand with a star at the end – just like a magic wand is supposed to be. “Here is a magic wand for you Grandpa” as she handed me a plastic tube from the toy box. After we spent a few minutes walking around the living room pointing our magic wands and saying “poof” at everything, I was told that I had been holding my magic wand upside down. ”How silly of me not to notice” I said. No wonder I couldn’t make the toy horse come alive!

“Bobbidi”…
We walked around all over the place “poofing, and pointing” and I started singing the Cinderelly song that I knew from my ancient childhood. I had a yellow vinyl 45 RPM copy growing up. The look on her face had such a smile when she heard me singing – how does he know that song?– she must have thought – it was priceless. It was just the same later that day when I sang along with her on that always requested karaoke hit – the ABC song.

“Boo”…
We had such a great morning playing Princess – well I was playing. Then we threw My Little Ponys through the play barn roof – oh maybe about a kajillion times. At one point I almost broke the spell. I said No to something the Princess wanted. Her constant smile disappeared, a slight frown began, followed by an almost tear, and a slight quivering lip. “Did I say No? I’m sorry, I meant to say yes, of course yes. The smile was back. I should have known better! Who can fight the power of a Princess? Of course I knew better, her mother was a Princess, her aunt was a Princess. I had faced the power of the Princess before and lost, why should I think I would win now. In fact her mother was in the hospital giving birth to yet another Princess – which was how I got the 24 hour Princess duty. My future is full of Princesses.

“Put ‘em together and what have you got”…
We went to the park, after which she had a good nap, then a good lunch. We watched Toy Story 2 (she even told me when to skip the scary part), played games, and watched episodes of Super Why. She had to help me find the hidden letters. Once, I tried to sneak a peek at golf for a minute to which the Princess said, “I don’t want to watch golf, Grandpa.” They never change.

“Bibbidi-Bobbidi Bibbidi-Bobbidi Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boo”
After dinner, I got her all ready for bed. She then wanted to play her flute and sing for me. It was wonderful. Together we had to have one more round of the ABC song. She said she missed her Mommy, but knew she was at the doctor along with Daddy. Soon she would have a baby sister. “Goodnight Grandpa” she said and waved goodnight as I turned out the light and closed her door.
The Princess is asleep, the magic wand is back on the mantel, and the glass slippers are back in the box of shoes. The day is done, but the magic will live in my heart forever.