the parade.

so, i say the moments i feel proudest to be her mama are the quiet ones. just me and her. in the still of the night…when she’s not feeling well…when we’re reading books and her twiggy little arms are intertwined with mine and her wispy blonde head is nestled in the nook of my arm…when there’s no one to witness the magic of the love of a little.

that’s all true and all…

…but…

…then there’s halloween parades. and i look at our little 50’s girl holdin’ her own between this cute little mess of kids…cowgirls and power rangers, puppies and bumble bees…

…and i can’t quite believe we have a two year old. who walks in a parade and waves to the onlookers. who keeps her cat-eye glasses on through the entire night and kicks up the heels of her scuffed little saddle shoes. and while i click away with the camera, i can’t help but hear the commotion of neighbors pointing out the poodle skirt girl and who she belongs to and ‘can-we-take-her-picture’. and i gladly claim my cliche’ moment of parental pride.

the poodle skirt girl is ours, thank you.

and we think she’s somethin’ pretty special.

so it was last night…as we strolled along the streets of our neighborhood right as the sun was setting…following the shadow trails of golf carts, waving to the crowd of brothers’ big-boy friends brett arranged in our front lawn to cheer her on, settling in to the chaotic crowd of kids at the clubhouse to make spider crafts and eat pizza. and here she was…this very big girl, holding her grandma’s hand and smiling through it all.

…and daddy caught some of our walkin’ on video here.

i love holidays.
and am so looking forward to our halloween traditions tonight as friends and family will gather to our nest for more fun.
more to come…