I have many, let’s call them, “eccentricities”. One is that I like to dress up. As Fernando Lamas says, “It is better to look good than to feel good,” and I take that a step further. When you look good you will feel good. Every get really dressed up for a night at the opera followed by a late-night cappuccino? Do you have any idea how to spell cappuccino? Well, it’s coffee with foam in it and wait’ll you see what it costs, but that’s another story. My point is that when you are wearing flattering and well-fit clothes, you’ll carry yourself better and will feel better.
So I’m glad Toddler Harbat inherited this from me. She gets her mother’s looks and eyebrows, thank God, but she gets the couture gene from me. Which is how she instinctually knew to put together this ensemble, a daring tongue-in-cheek jibe at the modern pirate, with some dashes of high-fashion 1960s neo-retro and a soupçon of exotic flair. I give you the look for pirate toddlers of the 21st century:
Layers of mismatched clothes? Check. Too tight in the crotch and too loose at the top? Check. Hello Kitty socks? Most def. Avant-garde painted eyelashes? Got ‘em.
Now let’s take the escalator to the second floor: small appliances, lingerie, and children’s haberdashery. Toddler Harbat is modeling an ear-flapped baby hat knit by my wife from the hair of some luxuriously soft animal. Underbelly fluff from a baby alpaca or wombat ear hair or something. Please note the model’s expression that evokes bittersweet longing, quiet desperation, and a smoldering inner fire. Or maybe she was distracted by an airplane just before I clicked the shutter.
She was much happier when I agreed to zoom out and show the costume that she picked to match the hat. Actually, it was the costume she was wearing when we forced her to wear the hat and go outside for a photo shoot. “Gaze upon me, adoring public,” say her eyes. Her grimace, however, says “Maybe that last handful of jellybeans was one too many.”
Thus concludes the first annual Toddler Harbat fashion show. You may now throw roses on the stage.
Writer, architect, father, husband.
Is that a little crown painted onto her forehead? If so , that would make her the princess pirate. 😉 She is adorable! I love the hat your wife knitted her. (heard its still really hot out your way so I hope its cool enough for her to wear that soon).
Actually princess is a pretty standard prefix to most things these days. Princess toothpaste is WAY better than serf toothpaste. And actually the hat has gone to a friend for her baby boy, so TH will have to wear her own knitted hat.
Definitely inherited that gene from you! Love the creativity, but more importantly, the self-confiidence to carry it off! What a character. I love DNA!