Sucker!

A couple of weeks ago, in a moment of tired mommy-shopping-with-two-children weakness, when my 3 year old's eyes glazed over at the sight of a cotton candy confection tulle explosion of a dress, instead of saying "you know, we don't really need a dress for you right now, honey", I caved and bought two.

Total sucker.

(They were actually cheaper than flimsy Halloween costume dresses, and we have a family wedding coming up, but that's beside the point.)
It's scary how easy it is to justify these things! Sadie was practically drooling. She didn't whine or beg or demand. She kind of went into slow motion as she approached the rack. I don't think she even blinked as she stared, slack jawed and starry eyed at them. "Mom," she gushed, "they're so beauuuuuuuuuutiful!"

You get the picture. Anyway, they turned out to be just the thing for getting photos of the girls for the annual Valentine card that I like to send to some far away family and friends. Thanks, Aunt Andi!
It has not escaped my attention that I suppose we might "have to" start amassing some dress-up dresses. Apparently it's all part of totally healthy imaginary play. Just the other day, a mom graciously offered to let Sadie borrow the little mermaid outfit that she had on when I came to pick her up from her first drop-off playdate. I was not particularly happy about the arrangement because essentially it meant that Sadie had succeeded in getting what she wanted by whining and defying my objection, but I appreciated the gesture nonetheless. More to the point, they had to get on with their day and I'm pretty sure that watching our mundane and cliche battle of wills play out in their backyard was not on their agenda.

So yeah, it might be time to get a few dresses for pretend play. But seriously - someone slap me if I ever buy those little plastic high heels...