A date with Gabbie, part 2

However much she liked the mirror, she did get tired of sitting still and decided to play hopscotch on the checkered floor in between bites. Some college girls were in the store, laughing at her, which only served to make her ham it up more. She is totally aware of the power her cuteness has to captivate audiences!





While we were eating our pizza, she told me about preschool and her friends. She talked about a little girl with "beautiful fingernails" that her mommy paints pictures on with a fingernail kit. I heard her desire to have those "beautiful fingernails" and asked if she'd like to get her nails painted at a nail salon. "Oh, YES!" she exclaimed, so after our ice cream we headed to the mall. She made me close my eyes when we walked in so she could "show me a surprise." Talk about a lesson in trust, walking through a mall of people with my eyes closed, led by a 5 year old saying, "turn here," go up the ramp" and "hold on to the rail." But, I did. She finally said "Okay! Open your eyes." I did and we were in front of Claire's! She said "This is the store that sells beautiful earrings and bags! What's it called?" Such a girl.

We went into ProNail and asked them to polish her nails. The man told her to pick a color off the wall, and she picked the brightest neon pink she could find...wanting to tone that down a bit, I found a coral pink with shimmer and said, "Look, this one has little sparkles!" and (thankfully) she said she liked it better and wanted it. We handed it to the man and he manicured her nails. She grinned the whole time.

I was so upset at myself as we left and I realized that I did not take any pictures of her getting her first manicure! So, when we got to her house, I told her I wanted a picture of her nails. She told me "Wait! I want a movie star picture with my Dora scarf and old sunglasses!"



This is "Movie Star Gabbie." For me, this is what childhood should be! She felt beautiful and glamourous and loved this picture when I showed it to her.












She then let me get a shot of her nails.










When she got her manicure, the man polishing her nails asked, "How old are you?" She told him she was five. He said "Wow, you have been so good and sat so still, I will paint you a free flower." He painted a little white flower on each thumbnail and she was over the moon! She had pictures on her nails!

She said "I am going to show this to EVERYONE at preschool tomorrow!"

He sat her with her nails under the drying fans and told her she had to stay still for 5 minutes. She did great, and sat totally still. We paid our five dollars and headed home.

You can't really see the gold shimmer dust in the polish in these pictures, but it really is sparkly.

I had a great Gabbie date. I went on a Gabbie date for my birthday last year, and had not done it since. I need to do it more often. It always makes me feel happy. She's so funny and sweet. Someday, when Davy can handle being away from Mommy for over 3 minutes I will need to plan some boy-centric Davy dates, too.

I look forward to that. I love these babies. I'm blessed beyond words to be their "Aunt Amber/Meemer."