This past weekend, Elisa wore her princess outfit. She showed me how princesses walk, and how they put their dainty slippers on.

While we were in the kitchen she decided to be Cinderella:

“I’ll be Cinderella and you can be the ugly stepmother, the two ugly stepsisters, and the prince. Can I have the mop so I can clean the floor?”.

I obliged.

“Wait! I have to get this dress off. Can you help me?”

Having carried out this extra part with aplomb, I proceeded to berate her in my roles as the aforementioned Uglies. Luckily she was so engrossed in her work she didn’t notice that all three looked and sounded exactly the same.

When Cinders had finished mopping the floor, she carried her dress off into the sitting room, then returned and asked would I go with her to the Magic Tree so she could get ready for the ball?

The role of the Magic Tree had been assigned to the door handle, which was now graced by the ballgown. I picked it up and shook it while Elisa chanted:

“Little tree, little tree, shake over me. That silver and gold may come down and cover me”.

Opa asked what we were doing.

“Getting Cinderella ready for the ball, of course!”

“Oh, okay”, he  said and returned to his newspaper.

Elisa put her dress back on and, to my relief, got bored with the game thus rescuing me from my most challenging acting role yet. That of the prince. I guess I can look forward to catching up next weekend. At least I have time to prepare!