My lovely eldest daughter doesn't take projects lightly. She devotes her whole self to research and authenticity. The year she was Sacajawea for Halloween she was holed up in her bedroom beading a head dress. She became interested in Sacajawea after researching Lewis and Clark. When she learned of Merriweather's sad fate, she was nearly inconsolable. "If only Clark had been there!" History for her is not a casual endeavor. She lives and breathes it.
Her class at school totally channels her eccentricities. As a matter of fact, they encourage eccentric, parent-exhausting behavior and call it giftedness. As soon as I caught wind of the "Images of Greatness" project, I felt a headache coming on. My girl chose Abigail Adams (the President's Day John Adams' outfit was an off-shoot of the already seriously-researched Abigail). I have no problem with my daughter writing a paper, but she needed to dress like Abigail and bring her favorite food to class. I highly doubted (with hopeful fingers crossed) that any information on Ms. Adams' favorite food would be available. Unfortunately my girl is tenacious and found that Abigail's favorite food was veal. Seriously.
I talked to another class mom and her son is doing Steve Young. He's not even dressing as the football player Steve Young. He's dressing as the tie-clad ESPN commentator Steve Young whose favorite treat is chocolate chip cookies. So this mom just had to make sure her son's tie was straight and send him to school with cookies. That's what I call a gifted mother/son combo. I had to find a hoop skirt and baby cow.
We experienced numerous mess-ups and alterations in our path back in time--including the bodice ruffle because without it the dress was a bit revealing and Abigail was nothing if not modest--but we persevered. So without further ado, I present to you the wife of a President, mother of a President, advocate for women's rights, patriot, rebel, and one heck of a letter-writer, Ms. Abigail Adams:
May she honor her mother throughout her long and accomplished life.
13 comments:
Beautiful Dress! How did the veal turn out?
Wow that dress is beautiful! And yes, I am curious too how the veal turned out??
I love Madeline! She is such an amazing young lady....I can only imagine all the creativity and adventure she brings to your life. Your the perfect Mom for her!
Oh MY Eileen! I'd say both you and her are gifted. Congrats on the dress. Did the kids eat their veal before their cookies?
Just happened upon your blog from Segullah and LOVED this post. The dress is amazing, but your daughter's face has to be my favorite part. Her expression radiates character and personality.
What fun you must have, being her mom.
=)
Love the dress, love the expression, and love that you supported it ALL...she will never forget this :)
How sweet is that?
She does have the perfect mother for her. Are you going to try and pretend you wouldn't have done the same thing if put in the same circumstances?
That is so cool! I LOVE that dress! I'm also a big Abigail Adams fan. I've been to her house in the Boston area. She was so awesome!
She is beautiful. I wish I had a daughter to sew for.
I give you and A++++++!!!! Your daughter is absolutely a most beautiful Abigail Adams. She undoubtedly made "history" at school!
Love it. Your kiddo is cool with a capital 'K'-ewl!
My daughter did this project in 8th grade. She and I had just returned from India, so guess who wore her sari and researched Indira Ghandi?
Madeline is destined for greatness, Eileen. Look. out.
I love, LOVE that dress. You did such a great job on it, and I really admire the fact that you did it.
You must be so proud of her also, sounds like she's worked so hard on her project.
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