This weekend was The Caterpillar's second birthday and good stars in the sky, how did that sneak up on me so fast? I have not even had time to process the myriad conflicting emotions I have surrounding this auspicious occasion nor how often I've ordered her to stop growing, because I'm simply not ready yet. She seems to have little regard for my feelings in this area of concern and has begun using the toilet on a regular basis just to show me that I'm not the boss of her, no matter how often I protest. I'll have to do a recap of our weekend o' fun later, but in the meantime, she's been getting several lovely cards and gifts from friends and family. Every day when I bring the mail in, we sit down at the table to read them to her -- or rather, read them aloud to each other while she plays with the junk mail and yells at the kitties for looking at her stuff.

Two cards came in the mail last Thursday and I sat down and opened one while The Dormouse opened the other and asked if she could read it to The Caterpillar.

"Sure," I said absentmindedly, while I opened the card in my hand and began to read that one to myself.

what I read in my head: For you, 2 Year-old! All about Princesses. This princess looks pretty in pastel pink.

what I hear The Dormouse read: "For you, 2 Year-old! All about Princesses. This princess looks pretty in pastel pink."

what I think: Hmmm, there seems to be an echo in here.

reading on: And this one looks best in blue - but the princess who always looks perfect...

Dormouse continues: "And this one looks best in blue - but the princess who always looks perfect..."

I glance over and see that The Dormouse has a different card than the one I'm holding, so I think I just imagined it or possibly I'm suffering from kid-induced dementia and go back to my card.

reading: is the one and only you.

Dormouse: "is the one and only you."

me: OK, wait I know I didn't imagine that. "Lemme see that card honey."

She hands it to me and I put them side by side. They are definitely not the same card, at least not exactly the same. (click to embiggen)


I love that they're even both made by the same company, but seem to each be a part of two different brands within that company.


I still can't quite figure out the reason for buying different illustrations for each and I have this long elaborate story worked up in my head about how one card was focused group tested and deemed offensive to children with fine, frizzy hair but it was too late because the first thirty thousand were already at the printer. But maybe some executive just has a budding artist/illustrator daughter who wants to break into the business and they decided the foil embossed card was too much of a risk for her. Whatever, they're both adorable cards and The Caterpillar loves them and immediately snatched them both from us and began running around the room yelling "Pinciss! Pinciss!" So I guess she's didn't take any of it personally.