Forget the months of interrupted sleep, the tantrums, the screaming fits (not the same thing!), the stacks of dishes in the sink. Today is Art of Mom Monday, and I am going to think positively about parenting.
Today's setting: harried morning, doctor's appointment (Peach), leaving work early (me), long commute home on the train, (Matthew), four stores to find Hello Kitty pigtail holders (a big negative for Peach & me, because who knew Peach only wanted "kitty piggies?"). Until about 4 PM, the highlight of my parenting day had been thinking to put a clean shirt on the kid *before* the doctor's appointment.
But around 4, I amped up the kid with some chocolate milk and set her loose in Nordstrom Rack (one of the places I went looking for the kitty piggies). We just happened to look - in case they were misfiled - in the size 7 shoe area, where I found a cheap (both meanings) pair of yellow fabric ballet flats that match the color of my current favorite handbag - a kind of baby poop yellow, to be honest. It looks better than it sounds, really.
I tried one on - and the kidlet went nuts.
"NO MOMMY! NO SHOE!" She lunged for the shoe and pulled it off my foot.
"But it's a pretty yellow."
"No yellow, Mommy. No yellow!" She dropped the shoe, face full of distain, in a box with some fushia pumps.
Hrm. (This was a funny development - she had been trying to talk me into clothing the whole time previous, by saying, "Mommy shirt" and "Mommy coat" when she saw something she liked, usually in a brand I normally wear.)
I picked the shoe back up. "So...do you want to try it on?"
And before I thought of pulling out the camera, she bent down, unfastened her Keen sandal, and pulled it off - all in one motion. (Normally, taking off the sandals involves sitting and much pulling.) She dropped the shoe and stuck her foot in it.
And still didn't like it. "No me, no yellow." She inspected the shoe one last time, and put it away.
I got the photo - and the shoes. We chased each other around the store, which was hugely fun, and actually led to positive fellow-shopper interactions. (At the Rack? I *know*!) My kid still threw some massive tantrums while we waited for Matthew's train to arrive; she stripped naked in the middle of my gourmet - ahem, Ikea meatballs and sauce - dinner, just as my boss called to ask a question, and announced it with "MOMMY NO DIAPER!"; and she pitched the requisite screaming fit when I put her to bed. (Which the treadmill drowns out perfectly, I've noticed.)
But the shoes? They were a golden moment in the day. Well, baby poop yellow. It works.
LOL at the shoes. It is hilarious that she has such an opinion about her hairbows and your shoe color.
It stinks about the tantrums, though. Just remember that she will outgrow it someday.
Posted by: LC | June 23, 2009 at 06:15
I just saw a comment you added to an old entry on my blog. I see that you, too, are an attorney. I'll be returning to work in August. How do you do it?! How do you balance being a mommy and an attorney? I worry about this a lot lately. I work at a large firm w/ a 2,000 hour per year billing requirement. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I want to do this. Sigh....
Posted by: FSD | June 23, 2009 at 23:32
What a cute little fashionista!
Posted by: Proto Attorney | June 28, 2009 at 13:54
this is the kind of stuff that makes me want a girl...even when it's annoying at the time, you'll look back and laugh. I love what a pretty girly-girl she is.
Posted by: Leo | June 28, 2009 at 21:49