. . . the fancy

Every single day, Averie asks to dress up.  Sometimes this means in actual costume, like on her birthday when she decided to become Francisco the Party-Indian.  Most often, she just wants to dress up: ball gown or other suitable dress, tights, shoes, ribbons, jewelry, tiara, the works.  Nearly every single day, Mama lets her.  Because really, how many days in the life of a grown-up can one spend wearing an extravagant ball gown?

And so, day in and day out, the girly-est of girls finishes her breakfast, requests a wardrobe change, and proceeds through the rest of her day bedecked in her finest, fanciest fashion.  It's how we do school, how we eat lunch, how we clean up, how we nap.  The big sister doesn't leave her 'baby' out of the fun either, and always makes sure her little sister has something equally fine and fancy to slip into.

Knowing her penchant for the fancy in all areas of her life, we-the-parents were only mildly surprised (but still greatly amused) when she expressed her fondness for the automobile she glimpsed in the Waffle House parking lot:

"I'm a fan of fancy blue cars with fancy headlights."

Equally fancy is her recently adopted standard reply to her Dadoo's requests ...

Dadoo:  "Averie, will you pick up the cereal that's spilled all over the floor and take it to the trash?"
Averie: "Word up."

Yeah. Fancy that.

. . . the return of the glamorous, pool edition

Our girl-adorable is still glamorous. This year, she picked out her own bathing suit. Usually, Mama picks them out and goes for something cute, covering, and UVA/B protective. Sophisticated is not usually part of the mix, because, well, Mama's first baby is only four.

But this year, as her mama was browsing suits online at our favorite swim shop, Bee was browsing right beside her on the couch. And suddenly, she knew the one she wanted. Mama liked it, too, but thought it was strange that her baby-girl said she wanted that particular one, and so she asked her baby repeatedly, 'Are you sure?' and 'What about this one?'. Bee emphatically, decisively replied that she wanted 'That one, Mama. I want that one. With the white roses on it.'

'Ok,' said Mama as she clicked on it to make the purchase. And then, unbelievably, it was gone! Some of you may have heard how Mama emailed customer service and then called multiple stores in the city searching for the suit, which had apparently sold out online right as we were shopping. Customer service located it for us at a store in New York City, but the one we finally purchased came from a search on good ol' ebay.

It arrived, and Bee could hardly wait to get it washed before wearing it. Thankfully, her Dadoo managed to get her pool set up right about the time it came out of the dryer and the glamorous girl was able to enjoy the first splash of the season in style. Here she is catching some ripples in her new suit.

Could she be the cutest thing you've seen yet???

. . . the g - l - a - m - o - r - o - u - s

Babydaddy & mama love to take baby-cutest outside. We know that taking her outdoors is one of the things that helps build her awareness of the world, gives her new learning opportunities, and all that other stuff the books talk about with regard to infant development. Blah, blah, blah. In truth, we like to take her outside to play because it's fun for us, and we like to believe it's fun for her, too. Only time will tell if she grows up to be a happy camper, but for now, we pretend she is and that she loves the smell of grass and the feel of the wind on her balding little head.

Because babyparents want to be the very best, grown-up kind of responsible, we decided that these continued outings into the bright light of day (and late afternoon) demanded a bit of accessorizing. Now we're not talking about a pop-up tent or a cool new back-pack (although, now that babymama thinks about it . . . ). We're talking about the kind of accessorizing that's fabulous AND functional, pretty and protective, the kind of accessories that you just have to have. You know what they say when the future's so bright.

So, off to our second favorite store we went, daddy, mama and baby-blue-eyes, and wouldn't ya know it? They had just what we needed. In pink, of course.




After our shopping trip, baby-UV-protected spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with babymama & daddy at Daffin park. She didn't seem to like her new glasses very much. She spent a little bit of time pouting, and some more time trying to lick daddy's hand, and she finally decided that they weren't her thing. Once baby-no-glare had pulled off her shades, babymama realized why that poor baby didn't like 'em. 'Too tight, mama' says baby-sweetheart.




Luckily, baby-sweetest didn't have to suffer too long for fashion. Ever the packer, babymama had an extra pair of more glamorous shades along. Oooh, the flossy, flossy.