My eldest daughter is defined by her own sense of artistry. She can turn any question in to a production by simply placing herself in a pleasing arrangement. The day before yesterday, she did a hilarious and elaborate interpretive dance to accompany her freestyle poetry about how thoroughly and passionately she would consume a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I was moved as to labor to create her a pb&j worthy of her effort… And then she didn’t eat the sandwich. The sacrifice of art, I suppose.
Tonight, we took the family out for dinner and then grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. At the very last moment, Evie started yelling “Iga’go POTTY-eeeee!” and running off down the store. I ran after her and left Tim with three other kids and two shopping carts full of groceries. (Thank goodness there were two adults there, or I would have had to chase her much, much slower…)
She was correct, but she was also too late. Disastrously so. She hasn’t had an accident of that magnitude in awhile, and I had no extra clothes or even emergency wipes in my purse. I used the facilities available to help her clean up, and then calmed her down because she was thoroughly embarrassed and crying her dramatic little eyes out.
Step 1: Calm, clean(ish) toddler.
Step 2: What to dress her in? Clothes are soiled. No spares. No diaper. I had texted Tim at some point to tell him “This is major.” but never received a reply. (And actually, he only got the text about 20 minutes ago – 3 hours after the episode.)
I usually wear two or three tops: a lace-edged camisole, then a graphic, patterned or otherwise more interesting shirt over that, and then sometimes a shrug or other texture/warmth layer. Tonight, I happened to be wearing the shirt I have on in the photos on the website design.
At first, I thought I’d just wrap her in it like a blanket and run for the door, but then I realized that if I was a little bit creative, it could look a whole lot more intentional, and she wouldn’t be anywhere near as embarrassed about the situation.
So, I put it on her backwards, then crossed the ties across her back to take up some of the slack, and tied it in the front as a sort of Grecian-style Empire waist. She literally danced out the door of the grocery store, saying “I’m a princess!” and my husband asked if I had to buy her a dress.
That is what one might call a “Life hack.” I was proud enough to take pictures when we got home, in any case.
Further proof that Evangeline can pull of truly /any/ look.
This composite photo is three that were taken with my iPad Mini, loosely Photoshopped together. The iPad was not appreciating the lighting, and so they’re rather grainy; definitely not as good a quality as the iPad usually manages, but better than the point-and-shoot would have gotten.
Here is a video clip of her impromptu celebratory dance.