The Only One In Gym Clothes...

I messed up.

I messed up a lot.

Have you met Jaleigh? She is the one that came out obsessed with anything "beautiful". Who loves her clothes so much, she actually morns growing out of them. Really. She cries.

This is the girl, that right after she folded all her clothes said, "Hey Mom! Do you think we could go shopping and get some more?!"

She doesn't like "old" clothes, even though most of her clothes are hand-me-downs. She tolerates it, but doesn't like it.

She has been known to wear dresses with tennis shoes on gym days, because she wants to dress pretty. When I can get her in gym clothes, it is quite a compromise.

Today I got her in gym clothes.

I got her in gym clothes because we were saving her really special outfit for Friday. The day she has her big 1st grade Christmas performance. The show she has been practicing "J is for joy that is filling the air!" over and over for. The day of the big Christmas Party!

Except the performance isn't on Friday apparently. The performance was today. The Christmas Party isn't on Friday either. The Christmas Party was today...

And she was wearing gym clothes.

"All the girls had beautiful dresses and curly hair, Mom. All the boys were wearing handsome clothes. Everyone. And I was the only one wearing gym clothes."

Not just any gym clothes either.

She was wearing "old" gym clothes passed down to her from her now 14 year old cousin. And her "dirty" gym shoes too. "Ugly dirty gym shoes..."

The details unfolded throughout the night tonight.

"When Mazy saw me crying, she started crying and gave me a hug. Then she said, 'Why are you crying? Are you OK?' So I told her that I was sad because my Dad wasn't coming to see me. She said it would be OK, but I was really sad, Mom!"

"When Aubrey saw how sad I was, she told me were I could get a beautiful dress like hers. I know right where it is. It's the first Walmart, and you go to the compartment and they are right there. I think we saw them before, didn't we Mom? So do you think we can go to Walmart right now? Aubrey has a pink dress, so could we get a red one?" I reminded her that we already had a fancy outfit all ready to go for tomorrow, which hopefully will still be ok in the morning.

Nathan said when she got off the bus she said, "Dad! You forgot my performance today!" and burst into tears which continued for 45 minutes.

I called Jaleigh's teacher as soon as I found out. She filled me in with more pathetic news, like that Jaleigh begged her all day to call Nathan but her teacher was sure Nathan already knew. I'm sure he would have if his wife had written it on the calender for the right day...

She let me know that there would be an all school sing along tomorrow afternoon. (Which is incredibly long and boring...)

BUT.....

Guess who will be in the front row of the audience singing right along?

And guess who will be the only one in a beautiful dress with curly hair?

I doubt I will ever get her in gym clothes again...