Three Ring Circus

Where are you going,  my little one, little one?

Where are you going, my baby, my dear.

Turn around and you’re two,

turn around and you’re four.

Turn around and you’re a young girl walking out of my door…

(Lullaby)

 

When Imogen and Madeline were little, way back in the Summer of ‘97, there was hardly a dress to be found. Unless you were in one of the higher income earning brackets and could afford boutique label frocks (don’t you just love that word, frock? It kind of just rolls off the tongue). I was not one of those people, so it was Best and Less and Target when we really wanted to dress up.

I’ll just pause here to say it still is mostly those shops that we frequent. Not because of income brackets but because they are affordable and nice and wear well.

Anyway, the best you could get were these sort of wash and wear sack like things. They were…functional but not pretty, girly dresses.

The majority of clothes available for little girls included shorts and t - shirts. Bike shorts were all the rage. (Sorry for anyone out there who still owns bike shorts and likes them). I think there were some denim overall type dresses but the girls claimed them too hot for our Summer and  would peel them off at the first turn of my back.

It was the same deal two years later when Lily was a toddler.

When I was a little girl, it was the 70’s. A time of gender equality. I did own some dresses but I was mostly in brown cords and skivvys in Winter and shorts and tops for the hotter months. I remember having a beautiful lime green number, which I wore with white knee high socks (are you getting a visual here? I looked luscious!). I thought I looked nice. I felt pretty but my peers didn’t think so. They thought I looked like a booger… in cork high heels and told me so, often.

So, when Ivy started to get past that growsuit stage and I cautiously looked out into the brave new world of clothing  for baby girls, imagine my glee (ok, I have been reminiscing my 70’s childhood, people, so I think I can use some of the  language of that era, just for tonight) when I found dresses, lots and lots of pretty, flowery, twirly, pastel shaded, gorgeous dresses! Since then, Ivy has been mostly clothed in them. With the exception of the middle of Winter days, frocks are her norm.

I love them! I have so many for her, I think her wardrobe is about to explode but I just can’t seem to get enough. David has tried to curb my buying them but it is no use. If I see a dress in the shop I like I have to have it. I don’t know what it is. Or maybe I do. Maybe I just explained my need for all things frock in the above paragraphs.

Ooooh, self analysis.

Scary stuff.

At first, I found Gymboree, through the internet. Their little dresses had me drooling onto my keyboard. Then the Spring and Summer range started to come out here. I discovered Cotton on Kids and a few other internet stores and went crazy.

Today, after waiting six weeks for a parcel, I was sure was not going to arrive, it landed on my doorstep containing the most gorgeous skirts and dresses I have ever clapped eyes on (I’m a freak, I know).

Today my mind is already ticking over with the different combinations that I might dress Ivy in tomorrow. Ahhh frock therapy… thank heaven for little girls, especially little girls who are toddlers in 2007. (Photos to follow. Ivy is not a willing muse most days).

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My friend Trish has given me this:

 

 

Nice matters. Oh yes, it does. In these times when everyone is rushing and some can’t stop to help others or offer a kind word, to me, nice is important.

Thank you Trish. She said that I was one of the nicest people she had met over the internet and I could say the same for her. So, right back at you, friend!

I’m going to share this with some people.

Triplets plus one mum, Michele S: for sticking up for another multiples mum. (See post above).

Meg from Dipping into the Australian blogpond because when you comment on her blog she always comments back. it’s like a conversation between friends. Something I need to work on, my commenting skills.

Finally to JohBlogs from Because I can…well, because I can really and because she wrote a very nice comment about my post on communities, that boosted me up, made my day and made me feel as though I had made a contribution out there in blogworld.

Thank you all for your niceness. Please pass it on.