Here's Her Sign

I double dog pinky swear, I had no part in making this sign.  OK, SweetPea did ask me how to spell "boys", but other than that, it was all her.  Just so you know, it was originally supposed to say "No Boys Lemonade Stand", but she later decided that "No Boys" said it all.  And by, "No Boys", what she really meant was "No Annoying Little Brothers Who Might Destroy My Super Swell Pretend Lemonade Stand", since as soon as I asked her if Daddy could have a cup of her scrumptious lemonade, her answer was an instant and resounding "Oh, yes!"

So, what inspired the sign?  Well, earlier that day, we'd stopped by the mall to play at their indoor play area, then walked over to Barnes and Noble like we always do, so the kids could play with the Thomas the Train table set and read some books.  While thumbing through the rotating rack of paperbacks, SweetPea found and brought to me "The Berenstain Bears, No Girls Allowed" to read to her.  In a nutshell, the story is about how Brother Bear gets tired of his little sister tagging along and builds a "No Girls Allowed Club."  I guess we all know what she took away from that story.

When she first started playing "lemonade stand", the sign wasn't exactly necessary.  Lil Buddy was too busy playing in his Crazy Coupe on the back porch.  When he decided to come in and noticed her playing, he ran over to see what she was doing...only to get the sign shoved in his face as she yelled "No boys at this lemonade stand!"  Good thing the National Association for the Advancement of Baby Brothers didn't catch wind of the discrimination.  I acted fast and said, "SweetPea, can you let him just pick out one cup to play with?  If he doesn't play nicely with you, I'll ask him to go play with something else."  The playtime gods must have been smiling down on us, because the lemonade stand play time went without incident.  Eventually, she took the sign and taped it up on her play kitchen.  I haven't bothered to point out to her that he can't read yet.

Personally, I'm thinking of either a) framing the sign or b) having her words printed on wallpaper.  I'm going to keep it...and when she becomes at teenager, I'll bust out bust out the sign and hang it on our front door or maybe completely do her room in the wallpaper, so all she sees are the words "No Boys" over and over and over.  If she complains, I'll tell her, "But sweetie, you were the one who said 'No Boys', not me!"  Yep, that's my plan and I'm sticking to it!