Sybil's Sitters 7 - Playing Dolls with Daddy

Shopping for my girl

Petre

Vitalia had a recital at the mall and Niki hadn't emerged from her room when it was time to leave, so I left her a note:

Niki,

Have fun shopping today. We'll be out until evening, but be home by six.

Daddy

I wasted too much angst over how to close the letter. Could her little even read? In the end, I decided on 'Daddy' so she would take it as an order rather than a request.

Even though Niki would be shopping, I decided to get her a few things. I should have known better. Once Vitalia figured out we were setting up a room for Niki, her excitement swept me right along with it. Full princess bedding, including a canopy and bed skirt. I demanded batman sheets and shams. While Niki's gender roles were likely set in stone by now, my daughter would still benefit. It just kind of snowballed from there.

Since the combined total of Vitalia and my knowledge of makeup amounted to very little, I approached a young woman behind a makeup counter in the high-end department store that anchored the mall.

"Hi, Evelyn," I read off her tag. "I need help buying some makeup for my —" I paused, not sure what the right thing to say in front of my daughter. "For my friend." The woman gave me a nod of understanding, the implication of my pause telling her everything she needed to know. "I thought who better to assist me than the prettiest woman in the store."

"Well, I don't know about all that," she said, smiling at the compliment, "but I can be of service. What are you looking for?"

"Everything. And let's not tarry over cost. My time is worth far more than my money."

Her smile widened quite noticeably at that. "Ok. Do you have a photo of her? That will help with her pallet."

I had an unseemly number of photos of Niki given our brief association. She was just so cute playing with my daughter that I'd taken a number of pictures of her. It occurred to me as I swiped through them looking for the right one that I'd had a bit of a crush on the girl from the start.

"Oh, wow," she said as she looked at the picture. "She could get by with nothing more than lip gloss and eyeliner."

I gave her a look that I hope reminded her that time has value. I didn't need her to tell me Niki was gorgeous, I just needed her to get me the right makeup.

When we got to clothing, there was a problem. I kept thinking about her little streaking stunt and gravitating toward clothing that, well, she wouldn't be able to wear very often. After I reluctantly pulled myself away from the lingerie section, I just grabbed anything that caught my eye in her sizes. She'd left her clothing in my bathroom, so I had a pretty good idea of her fit. Evelyn helped out too, women's sizes not quite as standard as men's. She also went back to the makeup and added more glitter and gloss once she saw the clothing I picked out.

In the end, I bought one outfit that might be considered 'fetish', an adorable frilly pink dress with accessories to match. The rest was more 'normal', though I hope she likes pink. I was jumping the gun. I really wanted to get this right, but didn't know her well enough yet.

I realized I'd overdone it when we had to hire a delivery van to get everything home.

I handed Vitalia off to her dance instructor and took a place in the food court nearby to watch.