The Diva

It's 5am.
A gecko and a slug are inexplicably perched beneath the large wasps nest hanging from my livingroom window.
And my 3 year old niece is asleep...in her bathing suit.

That, my friends, is "the Diva".

She likes things the way she likes them. Period.
Sometimes she just NEEDS to wear dress up shoes to church, or have juice in the octopus cup, or be held - standing up. only standing up. - in the kitchen. There is often no logical explanation for what she needs, but she NEEDS it... desperately. And if she doesn't get it? She folds up like a lawn chair and lets out the most pitiful wail, which is then followed by the most heart-breaking tears you've ever seen. And, also...dimples.

Even when she cries, she has dimples.
Dimples in her cheeks and a dimple in her chin.
We call it her John Travolta chin.
Not that we want her to emulate him in any way...its just what it looks like.

So, last night, she came over for a visit and wanted to sleep over. More to the point, she came over to visit and asked me to hold her and caressed my face and hair and asked (with dimples set to stun) "Ti Ti, are I gonna sleep over?"

And for some reason, probably the dimples, I couldn't say "Not tonight, baby, Ti Ti as to go to work tomorrow." So, now she's asleep in her bathing suit. In my bed. Probably drooling on my pillow. But, she has dimples, so it's ok.

How did she wind up in her bathing suit, you ask?
You might think it was because we went swimming or did some late afternoon tanning or that the swimsuit competition was the last event in the "Little Miss Dimples" pageant last night. But no. The real reason is, she just NEEDED to wear a bathing suit to bed. Oh, I offered her pajamas. I even offered her sister's pajamas. I thought that would be a sure thing because most times she NEEDS to have or do whatever her big sister has or does. But no, even sissy's jammies weren't good enough. But, just as it seemed she was about to do the folding/wailing/crying thing, I saw it, shining like a ray of heavenly light in the drawer: her pink Nemo bathing suit.

When I pulled that baby out, those dimples went deeper then I've ever seen them before. "Yes, Ti Ti." was all she said.

And then she squealed and did a little happy dance after it was on. Oh, and she twirled and pranced a bit. And this, is why I love her so. But also because of the dimples.