Introducing Joyce

Joyce can best be described in a quote from the children’s book Tacky the Penguin: “Tacky was an odd bird, but a nice bird to have around.” 

Joyce is incredibly enthusiastic about her latest obsession.  She researches and learns about a plethora of subjects, and will be delighted to educate you too.  Dinosaurs are the current fad, and she can not only identify them but also pronounce their scientific names accurately and give you a life history of each species.  In fact, when she got to meet a paleontologist recently, he complimented her on her pronunciation, and said he had never met a 6 year old who knew so much about dinosaurs. 

The blog title and quote come from Joyce.  Because she wants dinosaur EVERYTHING.  We have lunch boxes, water bottles, and of course plenty of t-shirts.  But no underpants.  She doesn’t understand why there aren’t packs of dinosaur underpants hanging on the rack next to the fairies and princesses.  I’ve googled it and looked on Etsy, but dinosaur underpants for girls just don’t exist.


Joyce has a summer project now.

One highlight of her infatuation is a character she invented called SG.  It stands for Super Giganotosaurus, and she is a dinosaur superhero.  She has a family and a whole group of dinosaur friends.  Joyce has mental pictures of how all of them look and they frequently show up in her drawings.  So this summer, Joyce will provide the artwork, I will provide the scanner and iron on transfers, and we will make her some dinosaur underpants.

This is a typical occurrence in life with Joyce.  We often joke that she is my clone because she resembles me so much, but it’s not just her looks.  She is a self-proclaimed tomboy, loves bugs and the outdoors, and doesn’t mind getting dirty while playing.  She has told me that she prefers playing with boys, because girls just want to talk about boring stuff.  She gets lost in her imaginary worlds she creates, and is always a memorable element of any cast she performs with.  Coercing her into dress clothes is an ordeal, and she doesn’t understand why she can’t just wear her old crocs instead of dress shoes.

Joyce doesn't just think outside the box---she doesn’t even know a box exists.  Sometimes this can be challenging when living in a world where coloring inside the lines is expected and free drawing frowned upon.  Occasionally, I wish she would just be like everyone else, but never at the expense of her imagination and creativity.  She just wouldn’t be Joyce without her sometimes inconvenient individuality. 

Joyce can also be incredibly sweet and thoughtful to her friends, and doesn’t comprehend why someone would do something mean.  She is unreserved with her affection for others, even if she hasn’t seen them in months or years.  So, I am thankful to have such a unique, imaginative, and creative daughter.


Even if I do have to make her dinosaur underpants.