Butterfly Ball, II

She waited for this evening for nearly a year. Every month or so, I'd get the question, "When is the Daddy/daughter dance?" and would have to tell her it was not for a long time. The past week or so has been sparking with excitement as I've been able to tell her, "Not very long now, Honey!". She woke up singing this morning, knowing today was her day with Daddy. It's been a long week of sharing him with so many others who need him, but tonight....tonight was her time to share him with no one.

This was her night to be his princess, and somehow I don't doubt that in years to come, she'll look back and identify with these words.....

"There's nothing that I'd rather do than to sit around and talk to you,

Reminisce about a simpler time

The music that we made was simple, but it stayed

In my memory and on my mind.

Dancin' on Daddy's shoes,

Dancin' all around the room,

Rollin' the rug up, and kickin' our heels up,

Dancin' away the blues

Sister would clap along, everyone would sing along,

Playin' homemade music, and dancin' on Daddy's shoes.

There's something about this musty room that makes me reel, makes me want to swoon,

That strange perfume is one of a kind,

The rhythm takes me back,

When I hear that razzmatazz, there's no nicer feeling I can find

Dancin' on Daddy's shoes,

Memories you'll never lose

Dancin' away the blues,

Sentimental memories,

Dancin' on Daddy's shoes

Dancin' on Daddy's shoes...." --Leon Redbone

To flesh out the evening a bit, we started primping Miss Mouse around 4 p.m. She was ready and raring to go by 5:30 when we left. Nails were painted; stickers applied to the nails; new sandals were being properly broken in, which meant hearing, "Oh, Mommy! My sandals got dirt in them!"; hair was fixed; new sweater, hand sanitizer, and mini-rabbit-purse were all packed; dance tickets were secured; car seat was transferred to Daddy's car; and Sunny had been cheered by "new" boots (she announced to our neighbors that the boots were "new from the basement!"....) and the promise of frozen yogurt with Mommy after Miss Mouse and Daddy's grand march.

If you take a look here (I'm having trouble with my linking ability) http://www.toomeytales.blogspot.com/2011/04/dancing-with-cinderella.html, you'll see Miss Mouse's expression during the grand march didn't change much from last year. She told me this year she "didn't care too much for the waiting part at the beginning" when they were waiting in line for the grand march. Why? Because two sisters in line in front of her were fighting, and their daddy couldn't get them to stop. She liked being introduced by Mike just fine in front of the crowd, but she was pretty upset about those two sisters!

Upon their return home, which was, as last year, very early, I got to hear all about the splendid food and desserts, the music, how she danced like a "grown-n-up", and how she got not only a glow-in-the-dark bracelet and necklace, but also the fancy mask shown above. Honestly, it was sort of spooky when I let her in the door and saw her wearing it. The silly mask definitely put off Sunny's bedtime by a good 20 minutes due to her shrieks of laughter. It didn't help that poor Miss Mouse was talking at the top of her lungs....I whispered quietly at one point, "Is it hard to hear me when I talk quietly?" to which she shouted, "Huh? Oh, yeah!". I guess the music they enjoyed was fairly loud tonight!

Commentary from Miss Mouse on the evening, heard by either me or Mike:

"This was a beautiful evening to go out, Daddy!" - he says this line was delivered much like a teenager girl

"I will never, ever forget this night. I don't think I will. I don't think so."

"Why is Daddy taking so long to get ready? Oh, I suppose he is going to look fantastic. It takes a lot of work to look fantastic." This after we spent an hour primping her, so she knew her statement to be true!

"There was even music while we were eating!"

"When I was in the bathroom, I could not find the soap. I asked a bigger girl, and she helped me find the soap and get my bracelet off. I thought I should take off my bracelet so that it didn't get ruined. I did not want to get a bracelet from Grammy and Grandpa Bob ruined at the Daddy/daughter dance!" ---I can almost guarantee I would not have thought of that at five years old.....

"Daddy let me try to get my food by myself. It didn't work so well, so he started to help me. I didn't get mad at him, though, because there was kind of a mess, and I didn't think I should keep making a bigger mess. So I was happy he helped me." --What I love is that she has no shame in this statement; it's all factual. She tried; it didn't work; she'll accept help and then try again (soon)!

Laura (my sister) and my Dad danced to the song that I wrote out above at her wedding. Though the dances Mike has taken Miss Mouse to haven't involved live music (as did the dancing my Dad and I often did), she's storing up some great memories of how important she is to her Daddy.

"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection" - Sigmund Freud