Today we had Gracie's pictures taken. I usually have them done twice a year, once at Christmas and once around her birthday and Easter. Today I was nervous because she had a sleepover with her cousins and decided to get up at 4:30a.m. In hind sight, I shouldn't have scheduled that for the night before the pictures but you live and learn. She was in a great mood but fell asleep as I was doing her hair. Once I was done she slept on me for 30 minutes and that was enough of a power nap to get her through it. That, along with the promise of a trip to the play place if she had great behavior. She did really great and she was incredibly agreeable. I had so many to choose from but here's a smattering of my favorites.
The yellow dress is her newest dress from Ethiopia. We are lucky that a new Ethiopian store called Lallibella recently opened in our area. I was thrilled to find it driving home one day as Grace had just grown out of the last dress I bought in Ethiopia. I really wish I had bought ten times what I came home with. Anyway, we went in and since they had just opened five days before, they had limited stock but we did end up with this beautiful dress that I think looks stunning on her. It's a little big but that's fine since i hope she will wear it for a while. I did find out today that the V-neck in the front is a little deeper than I realized so we'll have to keep an eye on that for future wearings. The purple and cream dress is her Easter dress that she loves because "it really, really spins good". She is a 100% girly girl.
Overall things are going really great. She's growing up so fast and I am going to miss some of the adorable things she says, When she wants toast for breakfast she will say "mom, I please have bread with toast and butter?" A couple of weeks ago she couldn't think of the word for slippers so she asked if she could wear her "cozy shoes with Minnie Mouse on them". When I ask her where she would like to go to eat she'll sometimes say "Ummm, I choose you can choose mom!"
I would say on the whole her behavior is getting much better and the tantrums have begun to slow way down, We still have some issues. Yesterday we were out doing errands and I went to Toys R Us to buy kites for her cousins for an Easter present. She asked for one and I told her not today, but maybe the Easter Bunny would bring her one. Well, cue the crocodile tears and the tantrum. As we paid for the items we had she sobbed, "I need a kite, that's not fair!" She sobbed all the way home and sat in her room for 25 minutes screaming and yelling. After she calmed down I went in and asked if she was finished with her fit and she said "yes". The I asked if she was ready to apologize and she said "yes". So we sat down on the couch and I said, tell mommy what you're sorry for. She looked at me with tear filled eyes and said, "I sorry, you don't buy me a kite!" It took everything I had not to burst out laughing. It certainly wasn't the answer I was looking for. She did apologize for throwing a fit but it's amazing to see how the mind of a three year old works. Later on we went back out to the grocery store and as we walked into the store she said "don't worry, I'm gonna be super great. No throwing a fit."
