The lavender dress

Jennica and I dropped by Fred Meyer yesterday after therapy. They carry her very favorite gluten-free pretzels, so we stop there pretty much every week to refill the stockpile. Its usually a pretty in-and-out sort of trip, but this week, I'm on vacation, right? So we wandered deeper into the bowels of Fred Meyer.

Of course, we ended up in the little girl's clothing section. Both the girls are growing like weeds, and since Jennica has decided that she is no longer willing to wear jeans (long story), they're both short on pants at the moment. While I was checking out the clearance rack, Jen became buried in a rack of frilly Easter dresses.

The first dress she brought to me was about a Size 14, and was a red-and-white floral print. "Mommy.....can I get this dress? Please??? Please please please? Isn't it be-YOO-ti-ful?? Please please please?"

I convinced her that it was way too big for her, and was pleasantly surprised when she drug it behind her (literally) back to the rack and hung it up. Hmmm. She does't even do that at home.

Pretty soon, she came back with a very frilly solid lavender dress in a gauzy chiffon-type material. Brown eyes wide.....she LOVED this dress. "Mommy...."

I said, "No, Jen," before the begging even started. It was about a Size 10, and I just wasn't in the mood to buy Easter dresses.

She gave me quite a spiel, and in a detached way, it was fun to listen to her blossoming vocabulary as she stated every redeeming quality she could think of about buying this dress. When she was done, I very gently said, "Maybe another day. We're not shopping for dresses today. Can you put it back and then come look at pants with me?" I promptly turned my back on her as an attempt to end the conversation.

Pretty soon, I heard a little voice again, "Mom." I turned back around and she was WEARING the lavender dress over her leggings and t-shirt. She had actually taken it off the hanger and pulled it on right over her clothes. Funny as she looked, my sense of humor pretty much escaped me at that moment. I know I was hissing, "Jennica.Angelie.Take.that.dress.off."

"First, I want to see if it twirls." And she proceeded to spin around, right there in the clearance aisle, to see if the dress would spin.

And then, much to my amazement again, she took the dress off voluntarily, helped me put it back on the hanger, and we hung it up and moved on. No temper tantrum. No fit. No meltdown......"I WAAAAAAAANTTTTTT the dress!!!!" None of that. Once again, hmph. Progress.

I really wished I had taken a picture of her in that dress with my cell phone. She did look SO cute. But don't tell her I said that.