Getting ready for Micky D's

A-Girl had her wardrobe fitting today for the McDonald's commercial. For the uninitiated, the wardrobe fitting happens the day before a shoot and is usually fairly chaotic with all kinds of people running around and the wardrobe person shouting "I will never get the shopping done before the stores close! Get me some straight pins, stat!" This wardrobe fitting was positively mellow and actually lots of fun (for A-Girl, that is).

She'll be in three different costumes, a maiden (which looks like a princess but apparently isn't), Jane (as in Tarzan and . . .), and a surfer girl. The maiden's dress is purple (yeah - we like purple) and quite pretty in a Halloween costume kinda way. The surfer outfit is fairly standard and she'll be wearing a life jacket (because apparently, McDonald's requires safety equipment in all of their commercials - not a bad rule). The piece-de-resistance, however, is the Jane outfit. They'll be putting her in a flying rig (under the standard leopard print one shoulder Jane costume) and she'll get to "swing" on a rope (while holding a Happy Meal box, of course).

They put her in the rig today to get it set up and make sure she was comfortable and she had a ball. As usual, everyone was really nice to her, doing way more than enough to make her feel comfortable. They told her she didn't have to do the flying if she didn't want to or if she was scared but trooper that she is, she said she'd give it a try. Within minutes she was yahooing it up, swinging like a pro.

It's amazing to me to watch her work. She's such a pro already. She's comfortable with adults, has no problem having a conversation with pretty much anyone and takes direction really well. Of course, I'm sort of biased being her mother and all. But, being as objective as possible, if I was in the business, I'd want to work with her. She's a nice kid, she doesn't waste people's time and she has fun no matter what's going on. She doesn't generally complain, is more patient than lots of adults and isn't afraid to take risks.

I never wanted to be a stage mother - at least not the stereotypical stage mother pushing her child to perform regardless of how the child feels. Sometimes I worry that she does this just to please me but when I see her working, I don't worry about that anymore. She has fun and it's clear that she wants to be doing this, at least for now. There may come a time when it's not fun anymore and she'll want to stop or maybe the jobs will dry up when she gets into those awkward tween years. Either way, I'll be glad that we were able to give her the opportunity to do something she so clearly loves to do.