She said, and I quote, "Dressing up your kids like that is only a step up from dressing up your pets."
Mind you, she did not say that specifically to me. It was a friend of a high school friend of mine, commenting on Facebook the fact that our mutual friend had forgotten to put her kid in green yesterday for St. Patrick's day.
But still, I'm hurt. Wounded,in fact.
It had never occurred to me that anyone would think Miss Priss' cutesy dress-ups were anything but adorable.
Her very first Valentine's Day found her in a red velour onsie topped off with red heart-shaped sunglasses.
Does this make me a monster??? Should I be at some sort of self-help group for my psychosis? Is there a test I need to take to definitively tell me that I am a danger to my child for once in a while placing her in "thematic dressing."
Or should I be expecting a visit from Child Protective Services because the tales of Priss being periodically beaten up and negligently kept in a crib she's too big for were not as disturbing or horrid as the fact that I had the gall to put us in identical outfits for our *Fancy Mommy & Me Day*, and one of you finally called us in.
Obviously, I'm making up for something that went terribly wrong in my own childhood. Did Mom not dress me up at all??? No, I specifically remember she'd dress up Sissy and me in matching outfits every so often, but not to the point of nausea. She'd even sewed up a pair of matching red plaid dresses with black velvet vests when the two of us were performing in a piano recital. But I LIKED those dresses. They were a little tough to get in and out of, but I thought they looked very fancy and was proud to wear it!
AHA! So Mom cultivated a LOVE of dressing up in me. See, it is all HER fault.
In my defense, how can this be ALL bad? Doesn't a nice theme kind of break up the monotony? Back in college (OK, and well after college, I'm not ashamed to admit!) my girlfriends and I would have theme nights when we'd head out to the clubs. 70's Night saw me in white knee-high boots with white shorty short shorts, a lavendar top and a wide headband. And we totally rocked it!
Some would point out that, according to my feeble reasoning, I am only teaching Miss Priss to be a better Party Girl.
To those people, I say PARTY ON!!!...
