A Special Flare

Belle is working hard to develop her own sense of style. Whereas her big sister didn't tend to such things until recently, Belle has already begun to fancy herself up early and often. Now, here is the catch: her sense of "fancy" is just a bit...um...different....as you can only partly see in the above picture. She not only has taken to parting her hair on the FAR opposite side than what it is used to (trust me, it looks funny), but she is constantly wearing these black socks that have candy canes and pink flamingos wearing Santa hats on them. I bought them for crazy sock day at CC last year, and now--during our first heat advisory day of the summer--Belle has pulled them out to wear them. After this, I am sure she will make a beeline to her room, where she will don her other favorite accessories...a dog collar necklace, multiple plastic and/or string bracelets and a random pin or two to fancy up the front of her dress. Sometimes the pin is a poodle pin that Gigi gave her, sometimes it is an academic excellence pin, other times it is literally just a safety pin with something random dangling from it...a toy, a piece of paper, a playdoh creation, etc.

*sigh*

I exercise a big amount of self-control when I see her and refuse to comment negatively on some of her more outlandish ensembles. I employ gargantuan levels of self-control when I find myself saying, "okay, get in the car...we are going to the store". Argh!