Clothing Battles No More

We've been having clothing battles in our house for quite some time.  What?  You?  Your kids are dressed every day, though!  Yeah, and I have the scars to prove it.  Some time ago, oh, around a few months of age, I decided that we should all get dressed every day to learn the difference between night and day, regardless of whether we leave the house.  (Translation: I needed to snap out of my postpartum slobbiness!)

Everything went well until sometime around age 2, when N (specifically) decided that he did not want to wear clothes.  He wanted to wear pj's every day, all day, and never take them off.  Some people are okay with this.  I, however, am not.  The blinds are busted, the bathroom is a mess, and my plants are always on the verge of death, but pj's all day is where I draw the line.  "Cozy pants" and sweatshirts, yoga pants and tees, whatever, I don't care - as long as it's never been sold as "pajamas." 

Neither punishments nor rewards worked well or consistently.  Many days, the only way I could get N dressed was to change his clothes in the living room while he was riveted to PBS shows.  Even then it was a hassle.  Most of the time, M is compliant, although he does like to copycat his brother, so some days it's a real chore.

Then a dear friend, a mom of four, gave me two giant bags of boys' clothes.  She said I could have them or they were destined for the Goodwill.  I took them but didn't open them right away because most were size 3T, still too big for the boys.

About a month ago, they must have had a growth spurt because suddenly their bellies were hanging out the bottom of their shirts, their sleeves were no longer ketchupy, and their knees were peeking out from their pants when I buckled them into their car seats.  I finally got around to stashing away all the 2T stuff and organizing their "new" 3T wardrobe.

A wouldn't you know it?  Our clothing battles are almost gone.  Since almost nothing matches anymore (my mom and MIL love to buy them matching and coordinating stuff because it's so darn adorable and I love it too) I allow them to choose their shirt almost every day.  And most of the pants are just some version of what we call "cozy pants" and they are all boy or neutral colors, so who cares? 

They LOVE to choose their outfits!  They have some favorites already, and most everything looks okay (but you must know I'm no fashionista by now) enough for our everyday adventures.  But every now and then they strike a combo that is just so....striking...it's...well....here's what N is wearing today:

"Keep your eyes open this time," "Aaaaahhhh!" he said!

That's a pea-green choo choo train shirt and kelley green sweatpants with a stripe down the sides.  It reminds me of an outfit that he once wore, a fleece top and bottom combo, what M called, "green bean" when he first started talking.  So he's green bean again today.

Here's what M chose.  For the first time, he wanted to wear his cousin's "Michigan" sweatshirt.  Maybe it's the first time I told him what it said, I don't know, but he's so ecstatic about flying to MI that he's been talking about it and making the "shooooo" airplane sound all morning.  And those are dragon jeans, and he's taking a picture of me with my beloved Razor phone, (may it rest in peace) the way we take pics of them with our iphones.

I also wanted you to see what a number they're doing to my tree.  It's really lovely with next to no ornaments on the bottom 2/3rds!  And to see how well N cooperated with the "let's take a picture of the brothers by the tree" idea I had in mind for you this morning.