But all that cold must have frozen my brain. Late this morning, Lauren painstakingly put together her favorite party outfit, helped wrap her personally selected gift, and she and I were off to an ice cream parlor at a local mall to celebrate her close friend Ava's birthday.
Except when we arrived, I learned that while several parties were in full swing there, they had no clue who Ava was. I thought I was in the Twilight Zone or on Candid Camera until the manager was called over and after some investigation, informed me that Ava's party was tomorrow. Oy. I didn't know what else to do except laugh. So that's what I did. Once she saw me laughing, Lauren's confused expression lifted, and then broke into a full-on grin once I told her that this meant she and I were going to have a total girls' day of fun at the mall.
Given that I had felt guilty all week for being away from her (although she was in awesome hands with Daddy, Nana, and Nanny Lena), it almost seemed as if this unexpected free afternoon with just the two of us was nothing short of fortuitous.
For the next few hours, we basked in each other's company, excitedly going from one end of the mall to the other. We first bee-lined to the Disney Store, where we spent at least 30 minutes oohing and aahing over the dress-up clothes and dolls.
Then time for a quick snack at Jamba Juice (Lauren's pick? Tropical Awakening, which isn't even on the menu!).
The all-fruit sugar high resulted in an impromptu performance for a few fortunate mall-goers.
Then we headed to the downstairs level, where we made some wishes in the fountain.
And our adventurer got a solo ride on the train.
Our little girl then ventured for the first time into a Sephora store. And promptly fell in love.
The Hello Kitty nail polishes were her favorite. She had to test every color of course.
Our final stop was the Nordstrom department store, where they happened to be having a trunk show for little girls' formal white dresses. "Wedding dresses!", Lauren shrieked when she saw them, and sprinted across the floor to eagerly begin her search.
Her mission? As she seriously announced to the saleswoman, "I'm going to be a flower girl in Kristen's wedding, so I need to find a dress." Yes, Kristen has mentioned to Lauren that she would love to have her as a flower girl when she gets engaged. The emphasis being on when. I explained to Lauren that as far as we know, Kristen isn't engaged yet. Beyond that, the bride typically picks the style and color of dress her flower girls will wear. Lauren processed this information momentarily before then spending 20 minutes carefully pulling each dress off the rack to size them up, and holding several up to her body to determine if it was a "yes" or "no" dress.
[This one received a big "yes" from both of us]
We then headed to the car, silently swinging hands. Lauren fought back sleep as hard as she could on the ride home before finally succumbing 5 minutes before we pulled into our driveway. That way too brief catnap ensured she was good to go for another several hours until bedtime.
So tomorrow we will be heading back to the ice cream parlor for Ava's party (likely in the same outfit). And you know what? I wouldn't have changed a thing about today. Things really do happen for a reason, and my temporary lapse in memory resulted in the very special afternoon both of us needed.
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