Melancholy Sydney

One morning, Sydney woke up feeling blue. She suffered through a terrible diaper rash, and the heat was getting to her. This summer has proven to be quite brutal. Sydney was not a happy camper and started crying this particular morning. I tried to dance. I tried to sing. I even tried to twirl her like a plane, but nothing was working. Sydney was in a melancholy mood. She was a sad, sad little girl. Tracie tried everything in her power to snap Sydney out of her funk. Tracie offered her a fresh bottle, but Sydney refused. Tracie acted like a clown, but Sydney looked away. Tracie even tried to tickle Sydney, but the pouts just kept coming and the little sad cries were unrelenting.

We looked around the room, feeling a bit helpless. We came up with an idea. Sydney is, after all, a young woman ... a VERY young woman ... but nevertheless a member of the female species. What do most women like, beside chocolate? Aha!!! Tracie had gone shopping yesterday. It was worth a try. We went to the bag lying by the door and took out its content. We approached little sad Sydney still lying on the chaise in our bedroom whimpering.

"Sydney," we said. "Look what we got!! Want to try it on?"

That day, we discovered that Sydney liked ... shoes. She liked the pretty gold shoes. The second the shoes were slipped on her little feet, a smile appeared like magic. She was charmed. She liked to play dress up. That was just excellent!! Sydney and Tracie would get along just fine. I could tell by the way both of them lit up. Tracie had to hold the shoes on Sydney's feet because they were just a little too small for these shoes. But I thought they looked pretty good on her. I had to take a closer look.

"My goodness! Don't these shoes look just perfect on you!! Just look at how darling they look with your chubby little legs!!" I exclaimed. Sydney was grinning from ear to ear. Sydney just couldn't stop smiling. She was feeling happy that she had found her calling. She knew she wanted to be a model when she grew up. She smiled and laughed all day. She went to sleep happy. She slept with a smile on her face. That night, she dreamt of all kinds of shoes - brown shoes, black shoes, high-heeled shoes, flat soled shoes, tennis shoes, open-toe shoes. They flew to her, and she tried them all on. She paraded in front of a mirror, admiring how pretty she looked with them on.

The next morning, Sydney woke up happy. She thought of "her" beautiful shoes and remembered how pretty they were. Best of all, they were on sale. She couldn't wait until she was old enough to go shopping with mommy and buy her very own first pair of shoes. She thought mommy was pretty smart and was just the best mommy in the world. She did a happy dance and chanted "Go, Mommy!! Go, Mommy!! Go, Mommy!!" Ever since then, we kept a pair of shoes handy whenever Sydney was having a bad day. Everyone lived happily ever after.

- The End -