Pretty As A...

It’s picture day at school today. The Princess woke up cooing and singing around 6:00 this morning: a bonus, we thought. You see, The Hubbs was just a little nervous about picture day himself. He does a great job, in my opinion, of fixing The Princess’s hair, but he’s pretty self-conscious about it.

And it’s picture day. Scratch that…in our house, it’s been referred to more like Picture Day. It’s her first school picture. We’ve chosen the custom background we want, and the check has been sent to her teacher. We are excited about this, if you can’t tell.

So, back to the point I was trying to make before that little tangent. The Princess was awake – of her own accord – before I left for work this morning. A good thing, yes? This meant I was able to snuggle with her (I hadn’t seen her since Sunday night when she went to bed) and ease her into the fact that we were going to brush her beautiful hair.

She was slightly upset at first, which quickly escalated into a full-fledged meltdown. By the time we were done, my red-faced, boogerrific, crocodile-tear-stained three-year-old had a set of beautiful pigtails. Unfortunately, she just couldn’t deal. Before leaving for work, I wrapped her in Dirt Pink and gently returned her to her bed in the hopes that she would calm herself down as she has so many times before.

No such luck. The poor Hubbs called after putting her on the bus to tell me that she proceeded to scream for two solid hours after I left. She clung to him for dear life, screaming at the top of her lungs, all the way to her seat on the bus. Her personal siren wailed away down the street as The Hubbs stood at the end of the driveway, shell-shocked.

This was, by far, the worst school morning to date. And, as The Hubbs said, she just had to pick Picture Day for such a meltdown. I can only hope that the bus ride helped to calm her worries, whatever they may have been. My heart is breaking for both of them: The Princess because something was so obviously wrong this morning…something she couldn’t communicate to us; and The Hubbs because I know how horrible it is to feel so helpless.

Here’s hoping the day has gotten better for both of them. I’ll tell you one thing: I can’t wait to see these school pictures. Good or bad, she’s my baby and I love her. Okay, and if I’m being totally honest, it would be pretty funny to have a professional picture package of a very unhappy little person. I know it sounds terrible, but every parent has thought about it at some point. Don’t look at me like that…if I don’t find something to laugh at here, I just may start to cry.

**Update: The Princess was not at all calmed by her bus ride.  She screamed and slept at school, and no picture was taken.  She came home, still inconsolable, with a note in her backpack from her teacher saying they weren't able to get her to stop crying.

My little angel is not feeling well, and I feel about an inch tall for not catching it this morning.  She was not running a fever or acting anything but cranky before she left, so I never even thought about it.  She is now snuggled up in bed with her trusty blanket, Dirt Pink, sleeping peacefully.

Looks like we'll be keeping her home tomorrow and hoping for a better day when the photographers are at school to reshoot pictures for kids who weren't there today.

Once again, I find myself wishing there was some way to communicate with my little girl.  If only she could have told me...or, rather, if only I could have understood what she was trying to tell me...