Dress Shopping with a Toddler

We went wedding dress shopping with Kristina on Saturday.  Obviously, this isn't a picture of our adventure, but I figured it wasn't right to post pictures of Kristina trying on wedding dresses.  So, this is a picture of Lunati training Laci to throw apples for her.  Yes, you read that right.  Lunati is training Laci, and doing a pretty good job so far.  Lunati brings the apple to Laci, drops it at her feet, and waits for Laci to pick it up and "throw" it.  "Throw" actually means dropping it on the ground about five inches from where it was picked up, but that's just a technicality.  I'm not a great dog mom who buys tennis balls, so the dogs have taken to collecting the apples that fall from the tree and treating them like tennis balls.  Which works fine for me because they are free and whenever one gets lost or eaten, there are usually at least a dozen more to take its place.  The down side of using an apple as a tennis ball is that apples get sticky, but I figure that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make. 

Back to dress shopping.  "We" included Kristina (obviously), Beth, my mom, Laci and I.  Yes, I took a toddler wedding dress shopping.  I have no explanation as to why I would do such a thing except to say that I'm completely insane.  However, I don't want to declare insanity so early on a Monday morning, so I just won't explain why I would do such a thing, I'll just say that I did it and we survived and I'm sure it won't be the last time.  Fortunately, Kristina isn't exactly a marathon shopper and our trip to the store lasted only about two hours.  Laci was a trooper.  She occupied herself by rubbing her head into the rows of dresses, which are thankfully all wrapped up safely in plastic, and oooing and ahhhing over all the sparkly jewelry, safely protected in glass cases.  She is such a girl sometimes.  Perhaps the best part of going dress shopping (for a toddler) is the giant mirrors.  That was definitely the highlight of the day for Laci.  I think I may have to invest in giant mirrors for her first birthday as I'm sure they would provide hours of entertainment.  I should have left the employees of the shop with a bottle of Windex.  I'm sure they won't soon forget the crazy eleven month old obsessed with yelling at herself in not one, but four different mirrors.  Yes, yelling.  I'm sure you don't believe me, but this child is SO LOUD!!  If I were to actually type what she was saying, IT WOULD REQUIRE ALL CAPITALS!!!  AND MANY EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!! 

Kristina didn't find "the" dress, but at least she narrowed down what she likes, which means we get to experience toddlerhood in a bridal shop all over again.  Hmmm, can't wait?  I'll be sure to take more pictures of Laci next time, as documentation of my not-so-temporary insanity, and because, frankly, it is pretty funny to watch a toddler run around a bridal shop.  Bridal shop owners beware.