Not Exactly What I Would Call "Layering"
The battles. The wars. The fighting. I really didn't expect all that when it came to clothing for another, oh, 10 years or so. I thought that if I let Alexis pick out her clothes when we purchase them, she would be pretty willing to wear whatever is in her closet.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! As if!
Every. single. day. A battle. I can send the kid into her room to pick out whatever she wants, but she won't be happy. Nope. Instead of just selecting something, she will dig through drawer after drawer, flip through hanger after hanger, and pray to the gods of Toddler clothing that something perfect will magically appear right before her eyes. It never does.
I can give her the choice of two or three outfits. She won't be able to make up her mind and will get angry that I dared to enter her closet zone.
I can just pick something and try to force her into it, but that requires about fifteen wrestling moves that I never quite learned in Mean Mommy Preparatory class.
Then sometimes I can tell her, "Go. put. clothes. on. NOW."
And she'll put them all on at once.
Three shirts, a dress, a skirt, leggings, and socks. Oh, and a Mickey head.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Reader Comments (29)
I'm first? When does that happen?
She dresses herself? You tell her to dress and she does it? I obviously need to come over, pen in hand & take lessons. Mine is practically a nudist.
Oh, & where you @??
Nine times out of ten, Miss Peach runs around the house naked because I just can't deal with the drama:P
When we HAVE to get dressed, it is just a nightmare. If you find an answer, please post it!
I'm with anglophilefootballfanatic. Never in the history of my toddler does she do that. She might feign interest in wearing clothing, and perhaps even tease me into wearing them for all of, say, 2.3 seconds. But oh no, never stays. Ever. She thrives on giving me more gray hair and stripping to her nakedness, just to mess with me.
That sounds like my daily fight for bath time. i know their is a difference between getting dressed and getting a bath... but whatever!
Heck, I can barely get my 6 year old to dress herself. Sounds like you have a little prodigy there!!
Even if she wears all her clothes at the same time!
I thought I had it bad with backwards socks... ; ) At least she's warm?
That picture is awesome!
The only comforting thing I can think of to say is... she will be well prepared for cold weather!
SEE! I'm trying to be upbeat this year!
Happy New Year.
Be thankful she's putting something on. I hate, no wait let me take that back...I loathe getting the toddler dressed. It requires me chasing him around the house, yelling obscenities ('cuz it helps, really) and pinning him down.
I will patiently wait for the "how to get them dressed" post lol
Oh [toddler] God! This for me turned into a direct defiance of style. I could be all 'honey you should wear this and that together because they go really well' and she'll be all 'that sucks mama,' you have no idea! Oh [pre-teen] God!
And yet, she's still so darn cute. Do you know what I'd look like if I tried that?
Hey, better too many clothes than too few, right? I love that outfit!
I have (thus far) dodged a bullet in this area. I put out clothes, they wear them. No, instead I have to explain to my 4-year-old why we don't talk to mommy in that tone of voice.
I'll take the clothes battle, please.
ciao,
rpm
I completely understand what you are going through! Both of my girls have clothing issues. My youngest is the worst. She's only 6 but we started having battles when she was 2. She used to love to strip and be "nakey" and was constantly taking clothes off that we had just put on. Then it got so she would only wear skirts, and if she wore pants they had to be stretchy and couldn't have buttons. She also wouldn't wear anything plain. It had to have some type of decoration on it - flowers, hearts, etc. She is still pretty much that way. Doesn't like anything with "itchy tags" now. Sigh. . . it has only just begun!
I am suddenly acutely aware of my gratitude that Alexis doesn't like to run around naked (anymore). Thanks for that, y'all!
Dude. She still has more fashion sense than me. She's fine. ;)
(Seriously though. This difference between boys and girls is mind-boggling. Not that I'm a boy. Now referring to BB. He doesn't give a rip about clothes.)
I'm liking the Mickey head. My kids never had one of those in their closet.
but i honestly believe, in all fairness, that i saw an adult (at the mall) dressed just like this... only her shirt was a band shirt and not Dora...
but still...
Love the photo. She would get along splendidly with my son. They both sleep in silly positions. :)
Happy New Year to you as well!
the mickey head is the PERFECT accessory. i don't know why it hasn't caught on before this.
and ... ahem ... wait til she's 14. i'll send roo-girl over for some helpful fashion tips.
I can TOTALLY remember doing this to my mom as a toddler. She'd ask me "Do you like the dress?" And I'd tell her "yes," and then refuse to wear it when I got home. I have no idea why I told her I liked it - maybe I didn't want to hurt her feelings or something in the store. Or maybe I was just a biotch at age 3. I think probably the latter.
Yikes! I'm guessing it is way too early, and you are way too tired to fight battles before work. I now completely understand some of the outfits I witnessed at preschool!
Ok, this comment is a day late, but I'm still on holiday time. Your post yesterday reminded me of my girl. My daughter never. stops. talking. Ever. not once in 9 years has she ever shut up. She talks and giggles in her sleep even. She sings or talks regardless of whether anyone is listening. And the worst part is that she isn't being bad, in fact her happy chatting exhibits intelligence, good cheer and creativity. but dear god it makes me want to tie her up and lock her in the garage some days. Sometimes I just have to shush her. And I try to be a good mom and say "dear, could you please be quiet or go play in your room or something, mommy has to concentrate...has a headache...needs to concentrate on the treacherous blizzard driving..." but sometimes its all I can do to just say "shhhhhh" instead of "WILL YOU PLEASE JUST SHUT UP!" And I'm not mad at her, I don't think she is being bad, it just makes me TOTALLY INSANE. Right now, she is starting wall-e. You'd think that would be a cause to stop singing. But no. she's doing some beat box thing and asking me what kind of batteries the dvd remote takes (not that the batteries are dead, she just wants to know...)and now we've switched to the Disney theme music...duh daa dada da da daaa da daaaaaaaa...and she is talking to the movie telling it its passed the date that the advertised movie is coming out and so on and so on....forever.
So I totally sympathize with you. Yelling at the non-buses passing in the bus lane is a good substitute for crushing the spirit of the chatterbox that is more immediately driving you insane!
@Jennifer--Dood, our kids were separated at birth, just by a few years. It is SOOOO a challenge not to squash the constant-chatter. Thank goodness it is usually pretty entertaining, once I'm done twisting it in my head.
Hahahaha!! First off, I LOVE the picture! That is priceless!
Now...the clothes. Mine is 10 and it only gets worse...and worse...and worse. Sorry I have no good news!
is shopping for the clothing also so crazy?
p.s. at least you have cheap entertainment. and blog fodder.
:)
You know I'm not even going to feel sorry for you. Multiply that by 4.
When my boys were about 1 and three,I used to dress them in matching short pants, knee socks and saddle shoes.(I know, I scared them for life)
When my oldest started to fight me on this, I used to tell him they were "Batman Pants" or whatever super hero he was into at the time. It worked for a while. When that no longer worked, I just gave him his clothes and told him he had five minutes to get ready or he wasn't going. Period. I'm the mother, he's the kid and he will wear what I tell him. When he didn't get to go a few times. He quietly wore what I told him to.
They both had the last laugh though. Now that they are 21 and 23. If you saw them on the street, you would mistake them for homeless people.
My best friend let her kids pick their own clothes. (I used to tell her they looked like orphans) Now they are the best dressed 20 somethings I know!
So I guess I'll just add that onto the long list of things I got wrong!!!
Oh yeah, I've been there ... more than once! Some of the combinations are quite amazing, too. At least it keeps things intersting. I love her Mickey head.
girlys and their clothes.
I let them dress themselves on the weekend pretty much - its a free for all...you should see what they wear to church. Most people now realize that they dress themselves on sunday ... you can TOTALLY tell.