Of the Moment

She gets on kicks of wanting certain books read to her, over and over.
Here's our current favorite.
I say our because ... it's the truest replication of life at our house.
Man, I love having a daughter.



Whenever Birdie's mother got ready in the morning, Birdie was there to help.
She would start by picking out the sparkly jewelry.
Next she would find the perfect pair of sunglasses.
Then her dog, Monster, would help her choose just the right perfume.

But more than anything in the whole wide world,

Birdie longed to wear her mother's shoes.

She loved her crocodile pumps and summer peep-toes and all her strappy sandals ...

Birdie couldn't wait a minute longer.

"Mommy, I think I'm ready to wear big-girl shoes."

"Birdie, you'll have years and years to wear high heels,"

her mother said. "I promise."

Birdie imagined how grown up

she'd feel dancing in high heels.
She thought about how much

better she would be at hide-and-seek.

Monster would never find her.

She pictured how fun it would be to cartwheel in beautiful shoes,

her feet glittering in mid-air.

"Mommy?" Birdie asked again later, "could I wear your shoes, just for a little while?"

"Oh Birdie," her mother said.

"I promise to be careful, cross my heart! Pretty please?"

Birdie's mother looked into her daughter's hopeful eyes.
"Well ... okay, sweetheart. But you have to be very careful."

"I will, I will, I will!" she promised, then raced to her mother's shoe closet.

Birdie carefully slipper her little toes into one shoe,

then slid into another.
She looked at herself in the mirror ...

and gasped.

She felt beautiful.
She felt glamorous.
... she felt like a movie star.

"Let's shim-sham, Monster! said Birdie as she started to dance.
But twisting wasn't easy in wobbly peep-toes.
"Let's play hide-and-seek, instead. I'll hide first!" she decided.

But hiding was impossible with pointy Mary Janes sticking out.

"Cartwheel time!" Birdie shouted.
But landing sure was tricking in sky-high stilettos.

Birdie looked down.
Her feet were sore and knees were scraped.
This is no fun, Birdie thought.
She knew just what she needed to do.

First, she kicked off one shoe ...
... then she kicked off the other.

Barefoot, Birdie did the best

cartwheels she'd ever done.
She tangoed and hand-spun

and grand-jeted all across the living room.

At bedtime, she played hide-and-seek.
Her mother couldn't find her.

"Here I am!"

From that day on,
Birdie decided
she wasn't quite ready for
grown-up shoes - yet.

For now, she liked her beautiful barefoot shoes
most of all.