who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead
...and when she was good she was very, very good
...and when she was good she was very, very good
and when she was bad she was horrid.
Paige was a beautiful baby. Gorgeous. A Gerber baby. Unfortunately, the full head of hair she was born with fell out and she was a beautiful, BALD little baby for the first few months of her life.
So, even though I always dressed her in beautiful little smocked dresses, and she wore pink all the time....people were always telling me what a cute little boy "he" was. Stupid people.
Perhaps that's why Paigey has always has a strong sense of "style"
The tutu...she loved that tutu. She wore it everywhere. Always. She threw a fit if we tried to take it off her - for instance, to try to get her to use the potty or to go to bed (as evidenced by the photo above of her wearing it OVER her nightgown). Good times. Good times.
Paige has always had a bit of the acrobat in her. Here is a photo of a family outing to the zoo...there she is buckled all safely into the stroller
And then, after she threw herself headfirst out of the stoller!
There has always been the "public" Paige....
and the "real" Paige
She really is a good girl - honor roll, loves to read, sweet and kind to everyone...
Which is probably why, when she does do something naughty, we are always so shocked. She may look angelic, but she is only human, after all!
When Paige was in 1st grade, she was on a gymnastics team.
She started complaining about headaches, and saying her eyes hurt. Her complaints became more specific and frequent....she told us she saw shadows from the corners of her eyes, and sometimes the shadows moved and everything got dark. !!! OMG. Naturally, we were very concerned and took her to the pediatrician immediately. He checked her eyes, and asked a lot of questions and we could tell he was quite concerned as well. He scheduled an appointment for her with a neurologist at Nemours Children's Clinic. We kept her home from school and when we called the school and explained what was going on, they were quite concerned as well. She was on the church's prayer list. A prayer chain was started for her. The weekend came and Paige wanted to know if she could go to a friend's birthday party. We gently explained to her that her Dr. wanted her to rest in quiet, dark rooms and that she wouldn't be able to go. Whereupon, the sweet, precious little angel started sobbing and confessed that she was making it all up because her best friend from gymnastics had just gotten glasses and she liked them and wanted to be like Kelsie and so is it OK, Can she PLEASE go to the birthday party now?
Yeah.
Oh, the embarrassment. Calling the Dr. and having to tell him, that no...Paige doesn't really have a brain tumor, she made the whole thing up. Oh - that prayer chain, ya'll? No need, thanks anyway.
Mortifying.
And every single person was shocked. Absolutely shocked. Paige? That sweet, little angel? She LIED??
Mmmm Hmmmm.
Oh...and by the way, not only did she NOT go to THAT birthday party, she didn't go to ANY birthday parties, or much of anything else for a very, very long time. She was extremely grounded!
Paige IS an angel. Sweet, honest, overachieving...
But.
Paige is also...
strong-willed.
Mischievous.
Silly.
She can also be a bit of a drama queen.
When we took the kids to Paris a couple of years ago, we took this picture of Paige standing in front of the Seine in her red beret, looking oh so chic! A few minutes later...
I took this one - of her throwing a hissy fit because she leaned on the railing and put her hands smack dab into some pigeon poop. (Don't you love how the boys are cracking up at her histrionics?)
So which one is the "real" Paige?
They both are.
And I love BOTH of them!
