Every time we point a camera at The Caterpillar lately, this is the pose she strikes. I don't really know where this comes from, but I'm pretty sure Satan himself has something to do with it, because I can find no other explanation for how highly sexualized little girls in our society become before they're even old enough to have an inkling of what it's all about - even when we try our hardest to keep television appropriate and to a minimum. It reminds me of when I banned the show The Cheetah Girls from the house because The Dormouse was only three and I wasn't yet prepared for her to be dressing and acting like tweens. But then she came home from preschool one day with all the girls' names memorized and a desire to wear leopard-skin print clothing anyway.

Sigh.

So instead, I'm learning slowly to use these situations as a) a chance to practice my "ignore that for now and don't call attention to the behavior" skills and b) a jumping off point for having a conversation about something bigger.

Of course, having a big sister who makes paper skirts for you to model tends to undo most of that anyway.

So the war goes on.