Kayci's Kindergarten Bug Parade

i  liket  my  costum   but  i  did   not   think    that     it   wos  good  inuf.  kayci  typt  it

Alrighty...well, that's not exactly what I was expecting her to say. This is one of those warts and all entries, I guess. So, yesterday was the Kindergarten Bug Parade. I won't lie--with everything else going on, this really snuck up on us, and we had plans literally every night this week. So Wednesday we brainstormed and decided that we'd go to Target,  maybe get inspired. We thought we could use things we already had and maybe add a prop or something to create her perfect costume. I'm not sure how we got to ant, but we decided that she'd be an ant and carry a large bread crumb (she's way, way into ants right now). That worked out for Kayci, because it meant she got a new ball (don't ask). So then we saw the black tank top with silver wings, and she became the queen ant. Hence the antenna on a crown instead of a headband (also her choice). She was really cute, and very Kayci. BUT...duh duh duh...in the interest of efficiency, I sent her to school in her ant clothes/costume yesterday. My thought was that it would make her day special, I'd show up with her 2 props to finish her costume and it would be great. But when I got there, she was a little "off" and I knew something was wrong. The frown grew as I praised her friends' costumes (and efforts, in some cases!). When it was time to leave school, she was still not quite right, and it took a trip to Dairy Queen to get it out of her. The Bug Parade didn't "feel right," she kept saying, and I realized immediately what it was: Kayci had high expectations that she'd put on her antenna and hold her breadcrumb and everyone would be like, WOW! It's the queen ant!   But it just didn't quite happen like that.  And yes, there were kids with better costumes than hers, which I think shocked her. (Maybe it was time, right?) What she was feeling was disappointment, because the reality didn't meet up to her expectations.  We talked about it, and about how she would have felt MORE special if she had worn regular clothes to school and then changed into her ant costume.  I thought that was the end of it, until I saw her blog entry this morning.  

You know, as parents we want the best for our kids.  I thought we'd come up with a great Kayci costume that would help her have a great parade experience, but instead it was just an "okay" day for her.  There's nothing I/we can do to change that, and there's nothing we SHOULD do, I know.   It is what it is--life's rarely perfect, and it's not even almost perfect most of the time.  While I would have preferred for the Bug Parade to just be fun, it's turned into a life lesson of sorts.  Those are always sneaking up on us, aren't they?