When my daughter was much younger, I loved dressing her. Girl clothes are just adorable and I was satisfying years of pent-up “pink lacy, twirly things” yearning. To put it bluntly, I bought up the entire internet of girlie stuff, and pretty much cleaned out the Quicksilver outlet of all things Teenie Wahine. I single handedly caused inflation.
(interrupted by my son who asked me how to make a capital, cursive letter “Y”……and I couldn’t do it. WTF? I guess our writing becomes quite slang over the years, and, well, whatevah!! He said, hey! Lets look it up on the internet. And we did. And it was there. Is that not flippin’ weird? Ahem..)
Fast forward to today. She has a closet full of adorable clothes…..But, every! flippin’! morning! there is wailing and screaming. I dread the time after breakfast when I must take her to her room to get dressed. I stare at the closet door because I know that there are, out of a sea of clothing, 2 or 3 dresses that she will wear. Cinderellas wedding dress, a Snow White dress, and a ballet skirt with a tank top. Shoes have been reduced to a pair of black velvet dress ups, and her Ugg boots, and I am telling you, she is stylin’ when she wears her Snow white get up with her Uggs.
Getting her dressed into anything else sounds like I am pulling her fingers off one by one and dipping them in alcohol….toes too.
Her closet has become a war zone.Â
If I put pants on her, she screams, then rolls the legs up so that it looks like a skirt.
Oh, and there must be tulle attached to anything below the waist.
Pink tulle.
With sparkles.
I did this. I take most of the blame.  Her love of pink satin came from my love of seeing her in it. She wears nightgowns because I have had her in them since she was was a baby.Â
I could have put potatoe sacks on my boys and they would have cared the less.Â
A few weeks ago, I decided to pick my battles, and let her wear whatever. The result was her wearing a Snow White costume to my doctors appointment. I got a few stares, and many “Oh, how adorable!” comments. It was painless, but I somehow feel that I have turned control over to her. Sort of like she won. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I am treading over unknown territory. The land of estrogen and its many land mines (peek over to the right and see the relief fund set up for my injuries. Go check out Baby Dagny….the stuff is adorable. Check out the Shakespeare Pantlets!)
So, you guys with girls. Is this just a girl thing? Or have I created a tulle freak? Or just a child with no sense of style?
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***Oh, hey! Did you know that it is de-lurking week? It appears that I am a bit late to the party! Again. I am loving all the de-lurkers who have posted already! So, de-lurk the rest of you!!Â
I am even later! My 22 month old daughter isn’t as concerned about clothes, as she is shoes. She changes them about 5 times a day – anything from cowboy boots to sparkly mary janes. As far as Mia’s outfit, Jacinta saw that pic on my screen and said “Aw, cute.”
delurking, don’t worry, I am late too!
My six year old only wears dresses and my four year old, only pants. My two baby girls (11 mos) are still dressable (that’s a word, right?), thank goodness! There have been times when we had to put two choices out and others when some items were, uhm, misplaced.
My boys could care less.
Well, you’ve seen how Ellen dresses and I have no say in her attire. There are times that she puts something together that i never would have considered, but she pulls it off.
Choosing how they will dress, even coat on a winter day or shorts in heat, is not a battle I’m going to wage. There are much better battles ahead of us.
Hmm, Mel’s only quirk is gold glitter shoes, even to bed. One of my boys did have a jones for his spiderman halloween costume and wore it daily for like six weeks. That will get you some looks at the grocery.
Delurking….I have 3 girls and the older ones are definitely fashion divas. We went a year straight with my oldest refusing to wear anything but her beloved yellow gingham dress. This too shall pass, but in the meantime she’s just too darn cute to care!
Dang – I can barely get the Princess to change her clothes, let alone dress up. She loathes tights, too. She is all practicality, and would just as soon like to wear the same jeans and turtleneck every day. Saves time for reading, and less folding laundry.
Not that I blame her.
So what you’re saying is I should enjoy it while I can? (The dressing her in anything I want that is.)
she is a doll
Delurking! I read because I’m fascinated by those with large families and yours is just so cute!! Thanks for all the great stories!
delurking…
i dressed my daughter more plainly when she was little… so i blame it on that! 
happens to me all the time. My daughter is 4.5. i wrote about this just this week as well. everything has to have sparkles and a design and butterflies and flowers. a plain shirt will. not. do. i just let her dress herself , and only on important days, like days where it is really cold, do i insist on her wearing pants. she is ok with that as long as i have a good valid reason. but then the shirt has to sparkle
I grew up with 5 sisters (2 brothers too, but they were towards the end of the group)and each of us went through our phases, although my mom was strict and we never wore any of it out of the house…
and I now have 4 daughters (1 son) and each my girls were different. My two oldest daughters would not wear anything but dresses until they got to about 2nd grade. My middle daughter couldn’t care less about the frufru stuff, but would wear it if I bought it. None of them like pink now-a-days. I don’t even bother buying them clothes for them anymore, because they WILL.NOT.WEAR.IT.
My baby (turning 8 on Saturday) is the ultimate frufru-princess-tulle-tu-tu-over anything. To this day she laments that the princess dresses at Waldemart don’t fit her anymore. She LOVES her some bling.
*sigh*
They just come with these little personalitites. And NOTHING I do will beat it out of them, er, change their minds
*sigh*
Been there, still there, and she’s now six. She’s getting a little more reasonable under peer pressure from fellow first graders, but I still have to let her choose her clothing unless I want each day to start with a war.
Hi! I’m Laura, finally de-lurking. I currently live in Taipei, Taiwan and teach English to little kidlets, but I’m moving back to Boston in 2 months to earn my Master’s Degree in Music Education. I just like reading about kids…. I come mostly for the cute pictures!
It is a personality thing. I have four girls and of the four only one likes pink and tulle and sparkles and such. I dressed all four in the same type/style of clothing and only one fell in love with pink. (In fact my oldest daughter loathes pink.)
Have you tried picking out two outfits for her and making her choose between the two of them? That way she still gets a say in what she wears but you have some say in what goes on her body?
And if she doesn’t like pants that is okay. Just buy lots and lots of tights.
She’s perfectly adorable and this phase will pass in time!
I have created the same monster, though I think it is a girl thing. None of my boys care what they wear at all EVER.
Now that my daughter is older though she is willing to compromise a bit. I let her wear whatever she wants in the house, but when we go shopping or visiting she has to wear “normal” clothes not costumes.
But now she doesn’t want me to brush her hair or put pretties in it.