Drama on the Bayou

It’s official. I had my first Mother/Daughter “spat” in a clothing store… with Grac my child who shall remain nameless. I never go to a mall these days (if I can help it); however, this was a full circle, sentimental moment. I remember going to this mall when I was a little girl, and now MY little girl was walking through that same mall… with me. I only wanted to go to the mall to get dance tights for the girls because they would need them as soon as we got back home (from Granny’s house in La) in time for dance class. I also wanted to purchase a certain hat to wear when we go to the beach. I’m all about efficiency, so let’s make it one stop.

When we entered, I think she sucked all of the oxygen out of the mall with her amazement and wonder. “Wow!” Like I said, it’s been a while. The last visit to a mall was at Christmas… for just one hour. That’s all I could stand. Ha!

It all started when we got distracted by the great ‘sale’ signs outside the store. They were my ‘bright & shiny objects’ of distraction. My little side-kick scanned the clothes and loved all of them, but narrowed it down to a loud flower shirt with loud striped short shorts. I repeatedly and politely as possible (trying to keep from screaming through grit teeth my cool) reminded her that, while I may not be an expert, I’ve watched enough What Not To Wear to know that this pretty much breaks every rule. And if I’m paying for it and we are on a budget… Well, it may as well be something she can wear outside the house.

I was met with LOTS of grump and a (small) waterworks display. Words like, “You’re frustrating me!” and “Ugh!” could be heard throughout the store, but obviously directed at me.

Wait. What? Wasn’t I the one offering to buy her something? It was Children’s Place after all… no mommy sizes here. I was tempted to leave with the outfit I put together for the other darling daughter who decided to stay home at Granny’s. Looking at all of the ‘bling-bling’ does not excite her anyway. She’s happy to let mom choose.

Anyway, somewhere during the 100th time of explaining everything once more and tightness in my chest, something in her clicked. She seemed herself again. I welcomed her back. She smiled. She found another outfit that matched (mommy found a few other things they would like as well… it really was a great sale) and we were on our merry way.

As we were checking out, she says, “Mommy wasn’t there another store you needed to go to?” Ummm, yeah. Remember the hat… and the budget? “No, baby, I think mommy just bought the hat.” ;) She responded with a big hug. “Thank you, Mommy!”

I love that lil' girl... to infinity and beyond. She can turn on that little girl voice and melt your heart in a second. I enjoyed holding her hand through the mall. I love that every time we go somewhere, just the two of us, she asks, "Mommy, what would you like to talk about?"

On the way home, I ask, “Did you have a good time?” We both agreed it was time well spent… except for one episode. She says, “I know what you’re going to do. When I’m a teenager, you are going to make me wear fancy clothes. I will want to wear pants and you are going to make me wear dresses. (There was a time I couldn’t get her out of dresses. She hated pants.) When I get married, you are going to come to my house every day and pick out my clothes.”

Lord, just help me survive the upcoming teen years. I mean, it's not like I'm going to make her wear this...Oh, and the next day... We made it home with 30 minutes to spare to throw on dance tights, leotards and fly to class. Whew! Oh the blogs I could write about from sitting in dance rehearsals....