If you know Brooke, you know how much of a girly-girl she is!  She’s had her moments of Diva-ness; throwing a tantrum because her hair wouldn’t lay flat (after getting up in the morning), getting mad that I didn’t pack any dresses for a camping trip last summer, she wears lip-gloss and chapstick, she loves to have her nails painted, she brushes her hair and teeth daily (on her own!) and always wants to look b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l.  She dresses up in princess costumes frequently, and has no problem wearing dress-up shoes as regular shoes (if I’d let her!).  Rarely wears pants.  And she strikes a pose for all her pictures…

…yes, this is one of those poses.

Here’s a couple more:

Not so bad.

But this is one we will hold over her head for a loooooong time.  I know this is trouble:

And then we have Vanna:

She is just a total prima donna.  And she knows it.  And all those pictures were when she was 1 week away from turning FOUR!

Late Spring, I saw some cute wedge sandals in her size and instantly thought how perfectly they would go with a variety of her dresses and skirts.  And they were shoes she could wear out in public and they were so stylish!  She tried them on, and of course HAD to have them.  I bought them and she wore them everywhere.  She called them her “crunchy shoes” because the wedge was covered in “crunchy” straw.

Yes, at age 5, I let my daughter run around in heels.  Since we have a “no shoes in the house” policy, and we don’t go out much, so she really doesn’t wear them for long periods of time, so please don’t worry about what this is doing to her feet, legs, back, etc. She did want to wear them around Disneyland, but there was just no way I could let her walk around in them for hours at  a time.  I didn’t pack them, I only packed tennis shoes and crocs.  However, she did manage to “sneak” them on the trip by wearing them in the car the day we left!  She also wore a dress for the 9-hour drive that day.

She learned last year that I don’t pack dresses for our camping and beach trips…so she makes sure to wear a dress the day we leave so that she’ll at least have ONE on the trip!  What a smartie!

We went camping a couple weeks ago, and sure enough, she wore a dress and her crunchy shoes.  She didn’t wear the crunchy shoes after the first day, but went to put them back on for the last day and suddenly announced it was time for crunchy shoes to go in the garbage.  They were too small.  I knew they were getting smaller (OK, well her feet were getting bigger) but she kept wearing them so I figured she’d stop when they got uncomfortable.  She willingly tossed them into the trash (they were in really bad shape!).

Three days ago I went back to the store where I bought them originally, and lo and behold! they were on sale for 1/2 price!  So she got a new bigger pair, and I picked up an even bigger pair for her to have when she outgrows the new pair!

Does this make me an enabler?

“Hey, Brooke- I want to take a picture of your shoes.  Go stand over there so I can take a picture, please?”

And this is what I got: