At least it’s not botox (at least I don’t think it is). The kit contains three different color lip glosses, lip conditioner, lip balm , 2 lip liner pencils and pure shimmer gloss. Chloe came home from the party with one of her friends, and they proceeded to put some on. Chloe, of course, who has no absolutely no experience applying makeup (other than the occasional Chapstick or lip gloss), tried to use the lip liner.

Needless to say, she looked like a 7-year old clown by the time she was done – she had no clue how to put it on, which I must say gave me no small degree of satisfaction. I’ve decided that while it’s lovely to have a daughter who reads, who likes art and who likes to play chess (sort of), I’m also perfectly happy that she’s still pretty innocent and naive – she still sucks her thumb for goodness’ sake. She would like to think otherwise, of course, especially when she watches the tweener TV shows on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, but the reality is that I think we’ve done a fairly decent job of shielding her from the lure of pre-adolescence and beyond.

Except when she wants to put on makeup. I guess that’s all part of the little girl rite of passage – but really, are lip conditioner and lip liners necessary preconditions to surviving that rite of passage?

When I was seven, our birthday parties either took place at our houses, or at a McDonald’s or local pizzeria. Today, no kids we know would be caught dead celebrating a birthday at a fast-food joint. And if the party is at the house, there’s all sorts of professional entertainment. No fathers dressed up in rented clown suits (like my own dad had done for one of my brother’s parties) anymore.

I’m going to stop now, before I drown in nostalgia. But come hell or high water, we’re going to celebrate Chloe’s birthday next year in a more traditional way: slumber parties, thankfully, never go out of style!