Living Dolls

Number 1 reason I had kids: to dress them up. Just kidding. The first reason is so we could train them to be prodigal athletes that buy us everything we want need in our old age. But dressing them is a close second.
When I see ads like this,

I imagine my daughter romping around, styled so adorably. But really, most real kids don't want their shirts in a half tuck. Real kids don't want too-loose pants cinched with a belt for a paper-bag waist. Real kids don't like their hems rolled up decoratively.
I mean, check out my daughter's hand here, tense with itch to un-tuck her shirt. Her face taut with impatience for humoring me. I could barely get the picture taken in time.

Maybe, instead of going through labor, I should have hung onto my kid sister doll. LOL. Really though, Emberly is a good sport and actually has a budding fashion sense of her own.