The Things We Do for Love

Each week Isabella has "Show & Tell" based on the letter they're learning that week. This week is "B." Last night, she decided she wanted to take a Barbie, more specifically, her wedding Barbie Granny gave her for her birthday. As usual, I completely forgot about it until I was putting her to bed. Knowing the poor state her Barbies constantly live in under Lily's Reign of Terror, I asked her if she wanted my help getting the Barbie ready for school. Of course. She instructed me to make the hair beautiful. So, with Jason studying all night, I dragged all the Barbies out to the living room to begin searching for shoes, bouquets, veil, and the like. I ran across her other "most-favorite" Barbie, Mariposa, a butterfly fairy Barbie with huge glittering pink wings attached to her back. So, in true Mommy fashion, I went back to Bella to see if she wanted to take Mariposa instead. She was asleep, and I hate to admit this, but I actually contemplating waking her up to ask her. (I didn't!) Instead, I just set to "work" on Mariposa, as well. Then she could have the option of Barbies to take in the morning. Well, after getting both Barbies fit for the red carpet, I spotted poor Dorothy, her collector's edition Barbie from Grandma Cheryl, lying in dismay amidst the pile of clothes and miniature hairbrushes. (Side note for all the Barbie lovers: We were given strict instructions to play with Dorothy, not to keep her all locked up in the box. The only strict instructions I think our girls have ever followed, because poor Dorothy actually looked like she went up in the twister.) Knowing Bella's love for Dorothy, too, I decided she could take part in the makeover session. So, an hour later, (some may call it play time, I call it laboring out of love for my child) all three Barbies were glistening pristine on the kitchen table, ready for the big decision this morning. In traditional reality-show fashion, I'm sure they argued all night on who would be "in" and who would be "out." The hard work was worth Bella's face this morning when she saw them waiting at the breakfast table. "Oh, Mommy!" she said, "I forgot about Dorothy! You got her hair back to normal!" (Yes, it truly was quite the compliment.) She stared at them while eating her Cheerios, and finally decided on Mariposa, even though I informed her that both "Barbie" and "bride" begin with "B." I knew the wings would be too much to ignore.