The clothing wars

I knew it was too good to last. Up until now, Liam has not cared about what he wore. In fact, he would be happiest if he could just be naked all the time, something that he frequent does at home (but may need to stop sooner than later, since we just put in new back door with full length window !) There have only been 2 clothing choices that he has said no to in the past – 1) turtle necks. He hates them and feels like he is choking. 2) the pink t-shirt. I’ve always been secretly smug in the fact that I had a boy who would wear pretty much anything. I don’t know how well I could handle a girly-girl with a need for matching accessories or just the right article of clothing. I myself am pretty much an “open the drawer, wear what is on top that is suitable to the weather” kinda dresser. My socks are frequently very different colours to what the rest of my outfit is. I’m clean, I’m warm, I’m presentable. Job well done in my book.

And then it happened. We were going out visiting friends on Sunday and I brought Liam his clothes to change into. He dove right into the sweater, pulled on his socks and stopped. He R.E.F.U.S.E.D. to wear the cords that I had brought down (nice brown ones that matched his sweater, I’m not completely lost in fashion) All he wanted was track pants, and no amount of cajoling, pleading or bribing was going to work. “Track pants are more comfortable”, he claimed. “Cords aren’t warm enough”, he lamented. “I just don’t want to!” was his final argument.

As most parents know, picking your battles is a key part of parenting. And this was not a battle worth going to war over. The track pants were clean, warm and presentable. Sure he would look much cuter in the cords, but he doesn’t need to be cute.  And so we left the house with Liam in a nice sweater and a warm, clean pair of track pants.

It will be interesting to see where this goes.  I may need to run out to the store to stock up on some track pants this week!