Not perfectly successful.
The Little Monkey was very much overwhelmed by all of the unknown activity taking place.
She didn't understand why she got to see the cakes and then was ushered off to a noisy hallway full of girls, and she didn't understand when all the girls walked off and started "leaving us behind".
She certainly didn't have any idea why I insisted she hold a basket full of flowers and when it came time for her to sweetly put the flowers on the sand, she outright - refused.
In fact, a meltdown occurred.
I tried gently asking Addie to put the flowers on the sand, then I tried telling her to put the flowers on the sand, and then I finally resorted to bribery.
I told Addie, "if you want cake, you have to put the flowers on the sand for Ms. Detra",
and
that is when,
she reached into the basket,
grabbed a handful of rose petals
and
slammed them onto the sand.
She looked up at me in order to determine if that satisfied the requirements for cake
and
honestly,
it did.
She followed the instructions I gave to her.
Although the moment was less than perfect, there were no outrageous expectations for Addie.
My brother and soon to be sister in law just wanted Addie to be a part of the wedding and a less than perfect performance was not going to ruin their day.
Once I managed to get Addie all the way down the aisle and to our places, she was so sweet.
She stood next to me and was very, very good for the rest of the ceremony.
By that time of day, Addie was hungry, tired and very overwhelmed, but she still managed to enjoy the party.
Her potential - once in a lifetime opportunity - was truly memorable - and to us, absolutely perfect.
