Or lack thereof. As I folded laundry tonight, which was largely Nicholas‘, I started thinking about his clothing habits in a stream-of-consciousness way. When he was old enough to have an opinion, the steady mantra was no buttons, no stripes and no collars. He hated them all on his shirts and refused to wear them.
Then he has this change-of-season issue and, in fact, still does. Once the weather turns warm, it takes forever to get him to start wearing shorts. And likewise once the weather turns cold … I can’t get him switched over to wearing pants.
Now that he’s six, the clothing situation is vastly different. He cares lots less about some things, and heaps more about others. He fixates on an outfit and will wear it for days … to the point that I need to go into his bedroom and remove it when he’s sleeping just so I can wash it. Of course, my family and friends will be the first to shout something about a pot calling the kettle black and some such nonsense but lalalala, I can’t hear you. There was this intervention some 10 years ago on a beloved green sweater of mine. I loved that sweater. They made me stop wearing it. (Although at least I washed it way more!)
A few months back, he got a hole in a favorite pair of jeans (and believe me, even at 6, you can have a favorite pair of jeans) and was positively despondent. He didn’t want to wear it with the hole, but at the time, we were going out and he didn’t want to wear anything else either. During the car ride, he started picking at the hole, making it bigger and bigger until it took up the space of his entire kneecap. Now he loves it like that and wouldn’t dream of letting me my mother patch it. These jeans are, of course, now one of the articles of clothing I sneak away under the darkness of night.
Lately when he comes to say goodnight, I’ve noticed that his pajama pants are on inside out. Sometimes his top too. He cares not.
Today as the car pool was pulling in to pick him up, I handed him his backpack and gave him a quick once-over. Underneath his button-down shirt (he got over the button aversion somewhat), he had on an undershirt that was not only on inside out, but backwards too, so the tag is front and center, plain as day. Luckily it was one of those tagless tags, but geesh…
I can’t wait to see what the teen years bring.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Awww – he’s a guy. This is who us guys are at this age – lol. good luck!
Darius T. Williamss last blog post..I Have An Idea
Both of my boys have “fashion” issues… one will wear only shirts with pictures on it while the other has grown out of that phase… and has moved on to being more concerned with his hair (at 6!).
Patsys last blog post..Prego Value Challenge
I’ve had that, “Your shirt is on backwards and inside out.” conversation with my 6 year old too – he usually says, “I know.” and then goes on with his life. So nice to know I am not alone in this.
Jennys last blog post..Happy Birthday to my little boy!
My 6-year old boy changes clothes twice a day, it seems. He fills up the clothes hamper so fast, it makes your head spin.
Nates last blog post..The Grill on the Alley (San Jose)