toby of the day: an excuse to use the word dapper

Remember the scene in Cinderella, where the forest animals have spent the day collecting junk around the house to put together a dress. And so Cinderella gets gussied up and wanders downstairs and her ugly stepsisters proceed to tear the dress apart. well, the other day I was trying on my favorite dress in preparation for a wedding we were attending. It’s a royal blue, silk Chinese dress that jon bought for me when we were first dating. I’ve worn it once, to a dinner in boston where I managed to cover the front with wine and duck. Since then jon has refused to let me wear it. Apparently, even though I cannot see the stains (the dress has little tolerance for such grandiose movements as, say, looking at your chest so when I try to look down at them a bunch of snaps bust open on the shoulder) he can see nothing but the stains. But I figured this could be my chance to wear it again, because no one would bat an eyelash at the fact that a woman holding a two year old had stains on her dress. So I was trying on the dress, mostly to see if I would be able to chase that two year old around when I was unable to breathe, bend over, or separate my feet more than 8 inches. But it turned out that the chasing part wasn't much of an issue, because toby immediately turned into one of those wicked stepsisters, screaming “noooooooo! take it off! take it ooooooffffffff” while clutching at the fabric and yanking with all his might. Fortunately, his might is not as strong as Chinese silk, so the dress remained intact. But it did mean that I had to hunt down something else to wear at the last minute, or find myself some forest animals willing to make me one, since having your clothes torn off by a small screaming child is often frowned upon at weddings, even weddings held in Berkeley. And while that would have made for some exciting photos, you’ll have to settle for these of toby looking quite dapper in a sweater vest.