When Bad Outfits happen to Good Kids!

The following pictures are of Molly. These are old pictures, circa 2007. She was 2 years old in most of them, and on these days, allowed to dress herself. I apparently was not home, or busy being pregnant with Paisley.

Now you know what happens when I leave Michael to "make it work"!

Fishing pole accessory not included.

Backward shorts and princess slippers.

There is no caption witty enough.

She actually looks happy to be wearing this. Of course, she's not wearing pants, but I've cropped out most of that part.

So here she is...my precious girl. There are other pictures, like the one in a helmet and kneepads in her panties, but I can't put that on the blog. I do have some sense of decorum. (But not much!)

My brother and I talked on the phone yesterday, which is always a highlight of my day. I talked to Sharon too, and picked her brain on behavior modification (she's a genius), but then JM wanted to tell me about this show on Style network. We don't have cable, so I had never seen it. It's called How Do I Look? and apparently it's somewhat like What Not To Wear.

So this lady was put on the show by a well-meaning, although very short-sighted friend. Apparently (and I haven't seen it, so I could be off here on the facts) the lady was a cancer survivor. After a close brush with the end of her life, she decided she no longer would try to impress people and care what they thought. She began to wear what she wanted, without heeding any fashion trends or advice. She was fully making the most out of the time God has given her on this earth and really didn't give a flip about what people thought.

But the other lady, and I hesitate to call her a friend, just insisted that she needed to look better, and put her on the show.

Since I didn't see the show, I can't write about what happened, but my brother was appalled and while he was relaying the story to me, I was pretty disgusted myself.

Just this week, we heard the story from Beijing about the little girl who sang the solo during the Opening Ceremony, but the girl we actually saw was lip-synching to another girl's voice. The singer was not deemed "perfect" enough, so she had to stand behind a screen while the rosy-cheeked doll faced child got to move her mouth on television.

Both of these stories hit a nerve with me. At 31 years old, I still find myself struggling with appearance issues. I wonder if it will ever stop, or if that's just part of being a girl. I don't know. But before I leave the house I do a pretty critical inspection of myself and as long as I'm not embarrassing my family, then I'll go on with my life. But I've been through glasses, braces, Accutane, the freshman 20, funky arms and legs, post-baby weight, and just plain bad fashion sense and have still managed to have a great life, due to the fact that nobody that really loves me insists that I be perfect.

There are days when I look and feel like a "before" picture. On those days, I put on a crown with my girls and we sing "Bibbity-bobbity-boo" and turn ourselves into royalty. I tell Molly that God sees her like that all the time. I laugh at these pictures because my girl has so much confidence that God sees her as a princess, she really doesn't give a rip how others see her.

Sometimes what we teach our kids are lessons we need to learn ourselves.