Anya and I looked in her closet and she said she'd wear a lovely black taffeta and embroidered ivory sleeveless dress. I bought the dress on clearance for a few dollars back when I was considering adopting Anya.
Before I ever discussed it with Dave.
It was like my seed money.
I hung the dress in my closet in case we adopted Anya. If we didn't, I'd give it to my nieces. You must remember the part about when I bought the dress, before we decided to adopt. I was really weighing if I wanted to change my life that much. That makes it somewhere in 2007 or 2008. That's what, three or four year ago?
Anyway, I took Anya to Kohl's to see if she like any other dresses better. We meandered through the store and Anya told me, "I don't like it dress, I want pants." No way babe, we're here for a dress. The girls' section was lined with all kinds of spring colors. Anya chose a black polyester skirt. She had also liked a black blazer (like a man's suit) that she saw in Target awhile back. I realize that the girl has in her little Russian mind that a black polyester suit is what she considers appropriate for a wedding, but she is not a 60 year old Russian woman going to meet a judge! I took a picture of her in the skirt. It hit the floor and was just so wrong. This child was sent to the color and style lady and I will do my best to broaden her horizons. She was also very confused about why we went into a little room and I asked her to take her pants off.
It was the day of the wedding and Dave just worked for three days and was headed out for five more. My birthday was the next day, so I asked if he'd watch Anya so I could shop for one hour. I went to Nordstrom's Rack, my favorite discount store, and shopped for 70 minutes, alone, with great delight. The best part was I scored!! I was thrilled because trying on clothes with Anya is not something I want to venture out and do. I try, as an interior designer, to look somewhat stylish. Would you hire someone to style your home or office if she can't even dress herself well? Throughout my previous life (pre-Anya) I would drop in different stores and pick up pieces at my leisure or go on a planned shopping trip. One problem now, I don't have any leisure. So, to score so well at one store in just over an hour was one of the great thrills of my life. Truly. For real. I'm totally serious.
I brought with me to the store my birthday cash and a gift card and I bought 4 shirts and 6 pair of shoes-yes SIX! Do I mention in one hour? Is that insane? I have never found that many pair of shoes on one trip or on one shopping weekend either. (I tend to keep a list of what I am looking for and shop in a condensed period of time, hence the phrase shopping weekend.)
I do admit I have a shoe fetish, but Imelda Marcos I am not. I have also found that so many different shoes make the other pieces of clothing look like so much more than they really are and updating shoes can keep you up to date, even if your top and jeans are a little old. Well, so much for In Style With Monica.
I breezed into our house with an hour left for Anya and I to get ready for the wedding. I took care of myself and then bathed Anya. I did it in this order as Anya will bath, dress in what I lay out and five minutes later come out of her room in something else. I didn't want to get into it with her before the wedding. We got her tights on and I put the dress over her head. I began zipping it up. It stopped at her waist. What?! It doesn't fit? Hello Monica! When did you buy it?!!
As a side note, due to being under nourished and the onset of puberty, Anya has gained 10 pounds since December 8, gone up 2-3 pant sizes and grown 3/4"! A friend who has a 12 year old dwarf, same kind as Anya, said her daughter gained 20 pounds in the last two years. They gain weight, they just don't gain the same height as average sized girls.
So, the size 5 dress didn't fit. I didn't have a back up plan. Maybe that black skirt wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Anya looked in her closet and said, "How about this one?" It was a lovely purple taffeta dress that she has turned her nose up at multiple times. I realized awhile ago that it is just NOT an Anya dress. She put it on and it barely zipped up. She argued that it is so big (the layered underskirts), but wore it anyway. I looked at her and felt so bad. It was a little gentle girly girl dress, not the spunky fiery dress Anya should have on. I vowed to never have her dress in a dress that was so plainly not her personality. She graciously let me put a necklace on and barrettes in.
She was very quiet for the wedding and enjoyed watching all the tradition. Then we went to the reception. I introduced her to the people at the table and she asked, "More people, please Mama?" Deary, I don't know the other 190 people at the wedding!
Anya thought our friends, the parents of the bride, were there for her sole pleasure and I had to keep grabbing her away as she monopolized the conversations with them if she could. She did her first dance with them and left the wedding doing a hands-waving-in-the-air-while-dancing-backwards dance with the mother-of-the-bride.
I also told her we had to wait when she kept asking me over and if I would like to dance during the groom/mother-of-the-groom dance. I did also stop her from slapping the groom on the butt to dance with her while he was dancing with his new bride later. She also danced with a couple we knew way back and was loving every minute of it.
The toast ("Mama, TOAST?!") was thrilling, the dinner was thrilling, the cake cutting was thrilling, the slide show was thrilling (especially since her brothers and sister were in a few of the slides) and the dancing was THRILLING, THRILLING, THRILLING!!! I decided it was time to leave the wedding when Anya was consistently doing head banging on the dance floor. Sure sign of over stimulation. As we went out the door, there was the water and I handed her a glass, which she downed in about 5 seconds.
Out the door I asked, "Did you like the wedding, the food and the dancing?"
"I like it a Vikki (the mother-of-the-bride)."
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