And a Happy Chinese New Year to you...

...despite the fact that my sweet, darling child wanted NOTHING to do with having her picture taken in any of her silk dresses. Three hours later it is funny ~ at the time it wasn't so much...

I can hear her in my mind saying, "Umm, mama, this collar is a bit snug. I know that you said this pink one is a size bigger than the blue one AND that I've never even worn it, but can we take it off already?"
Then she runs to show me which one to try on next... "I like this one MaMa!"













Can anyone say incorrect sizing? Anyway, I listen to her polite request and switch her out of the pink dress to the white one she wore for her dedication back in July. She may not have used her rapidly growing vocabulary, but I can read her face to say, "What is with these collars?" She started pulling at it and before I could actually get the fancy (whoever came up with those pretty but devilish to button up closures should be tortured!) buttons open, she had a melt-down. "I said get me out of this crazy dress now! Maya for the love of all things, HELP ME!!!"













She ran around in her diaper for about two minutes and then spied the blue dress. Despite her negative experience with the pink and white dresses, this blue one has always been something she reaches for in the closet. I can't imagine that she remembers wearing it on the red couch, but she has always liked it. I figured that since she was reaching for it now that we'd have a different outcome and I could actually get some good pictures of her for Chinese New Year. What was I thinking? Who knows, but here's what she was thinking..."Hmm, I don't remember this being so tight two weeks ago at Darby's house..." And then it came, "You come get this dress off me now! And I want an M & M!"













And then DaDa swept onto the scene. (He'd been working to make up for the lost hours from this morning while I was at preschool.) He brought Kylie back to her happy place by doing "the hula dance with the Hula ducks" from Ni Hao Kai-Lan that they watched together this morning. Ahh, the magic of Daddys...

"Happy New Year Everyone!"

Oh, and for the record, shortly after this happy picture was taken, I put Kylie out of her misery and changed her into her comfy Carter's pajamas. But there were no M & M's...