Last Friday was pajama day at Kiera’s daycare. As she slipped her Elsa nightgown over her head, she asked Aaron and I, “Do you have pajama day at your work?”

“Sadly, no,” I responded with a grin. Aaron straightened her gown and explained to her why we didn’t get to wear pajamas at work.

Later that afternoon, as we drove to pick Kiera up, we were making plans for the evening. As I stepped out of the truck, I realized we couldn’t just take Kiera and run around town in her nightgown. We had plans to go to dinner after running all our errands.

I explained to Kiera as she climbed in the truck that we were going by the house so she could change clothes. Sounds fairly simple, right? I thought so too. In fact, Aaron apparently thought so too, since he offered to keep the truck running so it would stay cool while we ran in the house.

The moment Kiera and I walked in the house; a sudden change came over her. She turned into… ‘Diva Kiera.’

“I will pick out my own clothes,” she stated matter-of-factly as she headed into her room. “No peeking!”

The next thing I knew, she had closed her bedroom door and I was left standing in the hallway baffled.

Let me just input here, that we do give her plenty of opportunity to pick her own clothes. I pick out her clothes in the morning, because, well, if I had to leave it to ‘Not-A-Morning-Person-Kiera’, we would never find an outfit. But, she has never complained.  The rest of the time, she usually has input on her clothing.

I stared at the closed door for a minute, before I decided to sit on my bed and wait for her. I waited…and waited. After a few more minutes, I ventured to her room and knocked on the door.

“Kiera?” I questioned. “I’m coming in.”

“Okay!’ She shouted back.

I opened the door and glanced around. Lying on her bed was an interesting assortment of clothing that was meant to be an outfit.

“What do you think about this?” She asked as she held up a gray and navy blue baseball style t-shirt.

“Can I wear this and put this over the top?” She laid the baseball tee down and picked up a white tank top that had zebras, bright colors and sparkly stones on it.

“Ummm…” I stumbled around trying to come up with a polite way to tell her no without poking a hole in her “Big Girl” moment.

“And I can wear these pants?” she asked as she stepped over to the white and black striped leggings on the bed.

Gently, I said, “Well, honey, it’s a little hot for you to wear all that right now. What about some shorts and a tank top?”

She glanced over her outfit, studied it briefly, and replied, “Oh…okay.”

I tried to hide my triumphant smile and offered to help her find an outfit.

“Can you get me my stool and I will pick something out of my closet?” She asked.

I grabbed her stool and returned quickly back to her room. Honestly, I was waiting for Aaron to call me at any moment and ask if we had gotten lost.

Kiera climbed her stool and stood in front of her closet, pulling out random pieces of clothing. I went through her drawers, pulling out shirts that I thought would compliment items that she was holding. Finally, she had narrowed it down to two outfits.

“Could you lay them on the bed, so I can look at them?” she asked, still standing on her stool.

Feeling slightly like I was working for a fashion designer, I laid the clothes on the bed. Amazingly enough, the decision was between an aqua colored tank top paired with white shorts or a white tank top paired with an aqua skirt.  Seriously, I can’t make these things up.

I watched as she studied them before she finally settled on the aqua skirt and white tank top. “I think I like this one,” she stated as she picked up the chosen clothing.

Relieved, I helped her step into the skirt, “It is perfect, sweetie. Now. We need to hurry. Daddy is probably wondering where we are.”

She quickly pulled the tank top down and I grabbed a pair of flip flops out of her shoe rack, only to be met with, “Ohhh… I don’t know about those shoes.”

Trying to refrain from putting my head in my hands, I picked out a couple of pairs of sandals and I swiftly pointed out the high points of each pair.

“Oh, okay. I will wear the blue flip-flops,” she grudgingly agreed. Yes, they were the first pair I offered up.

She slipped the flip-flops on and headed out of her room. But instead of turning towards the living room, she continued down the hall to my room. “How should we do my hair?” Diva Kiera sweetly inquired.

I briefly went back over the conversation I had with her when we picked her up. I know that I said we were going to run errands and go eat. Somehow, my child must have misunderstood me. I feel certain that she thought we were being invited to a ball and would be entertaining the King and Queen.

“Let’s just brush it. I think it looks great the way you have it pulled back,” I hastily replied, running the brush through the back of her hair. “Beautiful!” I exclaimed.  I paused for a moment to let the compliment sink in before adding, “Okay. Let’s go, go, go. Daddy is waiting in the truck.”

We finally made it outside. I turned and closed the front door. As I turned back, I glanced to the truck to see the confusion on Aaron’s face, then he glanced to Kiera and his face lit up with a grin. He knew what had happened. It was evident in his smile.

I watched as Kiera pushed her shoulders back confidently, smiling as she walked to the truck.

Oh well. Whether we were on our way to run around town or meet with the King and Queen, my little Diva had found her perfect outfit and felt good about it.  I couldn’t ask for more. Except prayers. We are going to need lots of those when she becomes a teenager.

Rowonna McNeely is a graphic artist for Willie’s T’s Screenprint & Embroidery.  She is a mother of a five-year-old girl and step mother of two adult girls. Her crazy life includes a dog, Sloane and psychotic cat, Gracie. Both females. She is married to her prince, who is outnumbered by the opposite gender.