time with mckteen

wanna hear about the best 30 minutes of my life? ranks right up there with giving birth, wedding days, and helping my mom through her cancer journey.

driving 12 hours roundtrip by myself to see my daughter dressed for prom, looking beautiful and happy - surrounded by her close friends and the neighborhood parents who adore her was so much more powerful than i imagined. my girl had a good, solid network of friends and i was so proud to have moms coming up to me, introducing themselves and letting me know how they cared about and respected my daughter. i let them know, in return, how thankful i was for their part in raising my daughter to be such a wonderful young lady.

i mean, i always knew she was special, with a strong mind of her own..did i ever tell you about the time when she was 17 months old and getting ready for halloween? i had slaved and sweated over a homemade harlequin costume made out of black and white taffeta, gold bric-a-brac and little brass bells on the chest and hat. it was adorable and my little baby girl absolutely refused to go near the thing. she'd squirm out of my arms and run from the room anytime i tried to hold it up to her for a fitting. it got to the point where she'd scream and cry if i tried to put it on her.

i was at a loss. what to do?! this was her very first halloween night of trick-or-treating and my special plan of the ultimate cutsie costume was failing fast. maybe she'd just have to walk the neighborhood in her dr. dentons.

halloween night was here and the tot still was refusing the harlequin jingle belled costume. wouldn't even try on the pointy hat.....until the boy across the street arrived as the very first trick-or-treater of the night. dressed in a peter pan costume, he rang the doorbell, said the magic words and received the manna - a couple of pieces of candy from the big plastic bowl mom had away from tot's reach.

well, as soon as mcktot saw peter pan get candy for his efforts, she put one & one together in her baby brain and demanded to put on the costume in order to follow peter pan's lead. she pulled out all the stops, too, shaking her head to jingle the bells. all the neighborhood moms got such a kick out of seeing her toddle and jingle her way past pumpkins and into fistfuls of sweet tarts.

...well, you can see she started out with a strong will and a quick brain, and now she's added a good heart, common sense and lots of love to become a truly fantastic person. i love my mckteen with all my heart and i will treasure our prom shopping and pre prom picture party memories forever.