Pretty Lady

Alina loves to feel pretty. Alina loves clothes. She has patiently taught herself to put on any piece of clothing she can find. If I ever hear her shriek behind a closed door (ahem, like should-be-naptime), like she is in real trouble, it is because she has gotten herself stuck in trying to put on someone else's clothes that don't quite fit. Nothing seems to get her goat more than the feeling of being "stuck" and not being able to resolve her clothing item into the feeling of beautiful.

After being fully dressed by Mom, Alina added David's white church shirt to her leg, a skirt around her neck, and she was still figuring out how the sweater heaped on top of her would properly fit into her ensemble.

Socks on socks off. It is a wonder that I have two of any shoes or matching socks for this girl. They come off her feet and get switched around in the blink of an eye. Solution: I now have an over-the-door shoe organizer for her shoes to be stored out of reach. It has made leaving the house much more predictable, so we don't have that last minute search.

Hat and shoes (with the laces removed, no less) . . . oh, and a diaper. She's got the essentials.

Look closely, and these clothes came from the drawer waiting for Alina to get bigger . . . a size 3T shirt on backwards, with a skirt, all over the clothes she already was wearing for the day.

She's a real fan of hats.

It was one of her first words, and continues to be a fascination. Bring on winter, and someone go get this girl a hat box to choose her head piece each day.

More hat style on display . . . 

David made up this crown of "pretties" one day, and Alina loved it so much she used it for several days after that. It's a collection of all of her pretty hair pieces attached to a headband. She loved it. 

David felt helpful and proud. I didn't discourage either one in their feeling, so this creation stuck around for quite a bit before mysteriously disappearing after bedtime one night. 

Now everything is safely tucked back into its place, so we will hopefully find it when we want on another occasion.

We love our girly girl. Besides wanting to feel pretty, Alina is emerging with a lot of admirable attributes. 

• She has a sense of right from wrong, and I can sense her level of stress rise if she sees something that she doesn't think is right.
• She feels with other people (with a wrinkled brow and a bit of a frown, she'll say, "baby aaaa, mama"--which is Alina speak for "the baby is sad, Mama"), 
• She is a bit of a tidy Heidi, asking for an extra napkin or two in the middle of dinner, and getting off her chair to go find a towel to clean up a mess on the table.
• She has a very tender heart. A simple "no please" is all she needs to correct a behavior most of the time. If I'm not careful, my saying "No" will break her heart. I have to tenderly give correction to this little girl of mine. 
• She has the sweetest giggle, and I love it when we really get her going.