G- A- P

G- A- P and no this isn't a post about the gap Addison has in her mouth now that she is missing her top two front teeth. I have been wanting to do this post since January but I just got pictures of her in this Gap jacket and figured out how to do a multiple image layout in Photo shop elements. Anyway I am glad I waited because I'm able to include a little bit more about how proud I am of this little girl. The story begins just after Christmas and Addison and I were heading to the mall to return a few things. When we got there she saw the GAP sign and said," Mommy look it is GAP. Olivia (her BFF at school) has a sweatshirt that says GAP. Can we go in there and look for a GAP sweatshirt for me" Now for the record I don't shop at GAP. I'm not crazy about the clothes and I think they are a bit overpriced. I'm more of an Old Navy/Target girl. I also was thinking that the "name brand" issues will come soon enough and there is no reason to start that now. The more we shopped the more she asked and I caved. I agreed to go look at what was in the GAP store. Steve and I both try very hard to make our children understand how fortunate they are and that you can't always get what you want and that things/stuff aren't always important and have to be earned. I often think if any of this is getting through to Addison.

I want my kids to be raised the way I was-I didn't have to do without a lot of things/stuff but I also knew that I had to earn and appreciate my things. They weren't just going to be handed over. So as we walked into the GAP store I was determined not to buy anything. However, when Addison spotted the sweatshirt she was overjoyed and against everything I was thinking I purchased it for her. I told her it was special and the she needed to take good care of it. I also reminded her that this was not going to be an everyday occurrence. When we got into the car to leave Addison said to me, "Mommy thank you so much for getting me this shirt." This made my day and I knew maybe some of the things we are saying are getting through to her. On her own she thanked me for doing something nice for her. More recently she was trying on several outfits that I got her at a consignment sale and afterwards she came to me holding several dollar bills. She said, " Mommy I want to pay you back for buying me these dresses." Really it almost brought me to tears. To me this is a milestone, different than the sitting up, walking, talking milestones, but a milestone as a human being. Appreciating and recognizing when someone does something that is unselfish for you and thanking them for it. Maybe I'm not to bad at this parenting thing after all.