Pretty in Pink

To say that Jemma is picky when it comes to her attire is a TOTAL UNDERSTATEMENT! This girl changes her clothes 3 or 4 times every Sunday because half of her dresses have tags in them...and once she's made me cut the tags out, there's some other problem...the seam is itchy, or, as Jemma puts it, "Maybe this is boring"...

She looks for her "comfy pants" (aka yoga/stretchy pants) and princess shirt to wear EVERY DAY. (Not because it's pretty...it's because they're "comfy & warm".) I go crazy over the drawers FULL of cute tops and jeans that she just doesn't like because they "hurt"...

So, I knew, this morning was gonna get ugly...it was picture day for dance and, unlike every other 4 year old in her dance class, Jemma's costume as been hanging in her closet for the last 2 weeks, totally undisturbed...she could care less about putting it on and dancing around in it, because it's not "comfy" and it "hurts". I was prepped for the chaos though. I had decided that regardless of Jemma's resistance to putting this bad boy on and getting her hair slicked back in a bun, I was going to remain calm.

Sure enough, as soon as she had that AdOrAbLe PiNk PoLkA-DoT outfit on, she wanted it OFF!!! Our conversation this morning went something like this:

Jemma: "Maybe this hurts. I want a different dance outfit."

Me: "This is the only dance outfit we have Jemma. All the other girls will be wearing it for pictures too."

Jemma: Tears beginning to flow..."But I don't like it! It hurts!"

Me: "Why don't we do your hair. It's supposed to be back in a bun like a ballerina! Do you want a sucker while I do your hair!"

Jemma: "Ya, but I want a different outfit. This one hurts!"

I'll spare you the next 15 minutes of our conversation...it was basically me trying to distract her, and her responses always having to do with the fact that she didn't like her costume and how it "hurt".

As we were driving to the Dance Studio, tears still streaming down her cheeks, I asked her if she thought the other girls were going to be sad about their costumes...she said she didn't know, to which I responded, "Let's go find out. Let's see if they are happy or sad when we get there."

Of course, every other girl was ELATED to be wearing their ballet costume and you know what, happiness is truly infectious, cuz as soon as we walked in that studio, I didn't hear anymore complaining! Jemma even let me take a few shots of her and her friend Kiera!

Hopefully the next time we have to put this on (for dress rehearsal and the performance) it won't be as traumatic. :)