"It's a girl!" said my father, "No, it is a boy", the nurse replied. I guess my parents always wanted to have a girl after my sister was born...

My father, a member of the Philippine team of commerce, came to America some years before I was born. After one year or so he married my mother, a wonderful woman that came from Cuba and used to work for him as a cook.

My sister Ana was born six months after the wedding and three years later, I came to this world.

My father passed away when I was two. My mom opened a restaurant and left Ana and I alone most of the time at home while not at school. Maybe this fact was of primal importance for my development as a child.

Ana and I enjoyed playing with almost anything available to our hands. Ana's age was such that she wanted to be like mom, so she used to dress up in mom's clothes and wear also the set of make-up stuff that was over the night table. I can remember that I didn't want to be aside of the game, so I joined Ana and together we had a lot of fun.

I was supposed to be the brunette sister of five or six dolls. Ana dressed me up with some of her old clothes and I can remember I didn't like the feeling of the lipstick on my face. However, skirts, dresses, and I were very good friends. Some of Ana's old clothes were kept in a small room by the kitchen. I still can remember the red dress with yellow flowers; the straps were very thin and my shoulders so shaky!

Once in a while Ana tried mom's pink enamel on her nails. The very first time the thing was a real mess and my mom was very angry at her. With time my sister became an expert, her hands and feet looked great, and everything was OK with my mom. As expected, I wanted to try the red color for myself. Ana helped me with my feet I tried a pair of strappy sandals that my grandma gave Ana when she was my age. We never realized that there was no way of cleaning my toes without mom's help.

Ana and I tried hard to hide my feet. Mom took us to the bed and when she removed my dirty socks, hanky panky! She explained us that she knew about our games and we didn't watch the Pink Panther Show for a week. I guess that this was the first time that the smell of the enamel remover came to my nose and certainly I was more sad because of my toes cleaned than because of the pityful discovery.

About twice more my mother came home at the middle of the game. She shouted at me and explained Ana that what she was doing was not correct; finally she decided to dump the clothes from the small room. I was really sad as Ana's clothes were to big for me and once, when I tried them on me, she laughed and called me "funny clown". The brunette doll was gone for some years after that.

Teen age came soon and I never thought of playing with Ana again. One summer we went shopping with mom and the sixteen year old Ana chose a pair of sandals that showed her colored nails and made her look taller. I suddenly remebered my days as a doll and wanted to go back. Ana was taller than I and her hips were bigger than mine by that time. Her clothes didn't fit my body at all.

My mother was shorter than my sister and about one year later her panties were just my size. When Ana and mom were out for some reason, I spent wonderful times wearing mom's pantihose and bras. The big mirror of her bathroom was my confident and friend.

I kept growing and mom's shoes didn't fit my feet any more. I was getting ready to wear Ana's beautiful miniskirts, panties, and shoes! I tried Ana's shoes once and they were still too big for me; socks were sometimes helpful and funny. Some months later the perfect-fit day came; I was very happy and I remember that I chose my sister's white lace panties and bra set; mom's stockings were still OK. Ana's graduation dress was awsome and her feet were exactly the same size and shape than mine; I really enjoyed the feeling of the black pantihose inside the shinny pumps.

I didn't have a lot of friends at school as I was a really timid and I couldn't play those action games that kids used to enjoy. All of them seemed so big and strong for me! I also thought that I didn't like them at all. This was the reason for being more confortable at home than anywhere else.

Ana left home for college some weeks later and she left behind a collection of her spring clothes that I enjoyed as often as I could. I can remember that fall to be most beautiful "spring time" in my life. When Ana and my mom went together for vacations on Ana's fall break, I spent the whole week dressed at home. I used mom's hair-removal wax (what a pain!) and get rid of every single hair from my thin body. It was incredible for me the feeling of the need to remove my enamel not because of mom's arrival but because of the need of super glowing nails in toes and fingers again.

One day on that week, just one month before my 16th bithday, I was in front of the mirror dancing and singing. My legs and arms where perfectly smooth. All my nails were red colored and I was also wearing a red lipstick. However, my hair was short and I covered my head with a small yellow hat that my sister used at the beach. I tried mom's yellow set of bra and panties, then I tried the pink one with lace and small flowers; I was pleased with pink. The best moment came when I felt that short and yellow-flowered Ana's dress over my body. The pair of yellow sandals that showed my sweet toes was used by my sister only once and the back strap was a little hard. I released the knot and moved my toes and red nails first and then I moved the rest of my foot inside and wrapped the strap around my ankle again. I raised my eyes to the mirror and at that very moment I realized that what I was looking was a real and beautiful teenage girl. At that very moment Daniela was born.