picky on clothes already!

So my boy twin is already fixated on certain items of clothing. For instance he cries for his "Truck PJs" at night which he does not fit into anymore and are full of holes at the knees and feet anyway. I tried to find the same pair in his current size to no avail. He also will throw a fit if I try to put him in normal pants, not Overalls. And shoes - I can't for the life of me put either of them in another pair of shoes which they are growing out of. I know that will be a huge battle!

Anyone else going through this? Should I fight this battle or let him wear the same 3 pairs of overalls and give away all the cute pants my sister handed down to me??

 

Oh sweetie it's just the beginning!

This is an area where in general I don't want to get involved in this power struggle. My little Jade pretty much always wants to wear her NJ Devils jersey (we have two, thank god) and the same pants (also, 2) which are now getting much too small on her. I'm just going to throw them out soon and she'll have to deal. Melissa isn't much better. I don't really care, but I do insist that they pick their clothes and so they are dressed before breakfast. They do come up with some of the most interesting combinations!

I do try to suggest things that will look nice together and tell them when I think they look really nice when they do. Someday I figure they'll get it. In the meantime, what do I care what they wear in general?

I've decided though to throw out all hideous hand-me-downs from my SIL lest we have another "heart dress" (ugh!) obsession.

The downside: I recently posted a thread here about how to deal when they need to be dressed a little more respectable. Can be a big problem. We have a bat mitzvah to attend in late April and I'm so trying to figure out how I'm going to get them into the cute little dresses I bought!

 

I just laughed when I saw your post!

I am at this same crossroad with Puck. He only wants to wear the same pair of brown GAP slip-on suede boots my MIL bought for him....EVERY DAY!

And the main reason I'm worried is I went through this with Will (my middle son, now 4). Last winter, he refused to wear anything but his winter boots every day and it didn't end with the cold weather. Finally last April, I bought him a cute pair of rubber rain boots which I was able to switch in for the snow boots, he wore them almost every day until the summer heat wave hit!

I'm thinking I might nip Puck's boot obsession sooner than later, so I don't end up with another child in boots at the beach this summer.

But, I really think it's just a phase when they need to express control. Once in a while, Will puts up a fight about shoes (yesterday he wore soccer cleats to Target) but it isn't consistent like it was when he was a little younger.

 

ME ME ME!! You should have seen me Old Navy Friday night trying to bargain with my 2 year old who wanted the Orange flip-flops when I wanted her to have the pink or white ones that would match her bathing suits and many outfits!!

I totally ended up compromising and buying 2 pairs since is was 2 for $5 and let her get the Orange and Pink ones. But now she refuses to wear any shoe but the Orange flip-flops!!

I am in BIG trouble, if this is already starting!!

 

Marie - I guess it isn't a battle I do want to fight. I will reserve my energy for more important safety issues like not standing on chairs etc; Sigh. Bye-bye cute pants!! I am going to check out your post on dressing up next. Good luck with the bat mitzvah!


Jaci - interesting that it is our boys and not the girls. Not what I was expecting with my 2! I too will have to nip the shoe thing as I really don't want to have them in boots at the beach. But I am thinking they both love to be barefoot so it might not be an issue there. Perhaps I will take them shoe shopping this weekend and see if getting them involved in picking out a new pair will help. And thanks for the info on the Eric Carle museum. It's funny I just bought a new box of Cheerios and on it was Eric Carle and information about his new museum!

Nicole - I think we all just need to keep photographs of all the bad fashion decisions they will make as they grow up and then pull them out to embarass them when they are older!

-Dana

 

I let my girls pick one thing then I build the outfit around the item they picked out. So far this works well for us. As for out grown things, my SIL has a 9 month old girl, when ever something gets too small I put it in a box for her, last week, Bianca really wanted to wear a sweater that's too small. I told her that it was too small and it had to go to Marisol (the baby) and I had her put it in the box. It worked pretty well, all morning she was saying, "Green sweater for Marisol?, Marisol bebe?" And I told her that's right, Marisol is a baby, she's smaller than you and that sweater is for babies, you're a big girl now. You could give that a try.

 

Clothing battles are constant in my house. At 2 I took a coat back because my son didn't like green and wanted red. Now at 3 he is fixated on many different T shirts and freaks out when he isn't allowed to change into the one he wants (he would change at least 3 times a day if we let him).

Aaugggghhhhh! I had boys I didn't think I was going to have to deal with this.

 

HA!! I think it is totally normal. My advice is to partially pick the battle. I would not get rid of perfectly good clothes, especially if the ones he wants to wear don't even fit him anymore, and I would not concede to let him wear just his overalls. I would try giving him one option. "You get to pick which pants you want to wear today...either your blue jeans, or your shorts?" Let him choose between the options you feel are appropriate. If he still puts up a fuss, then I think you need to stand firm. I think it will create more issues and power struggles if you don't hold your ground.

 

I think it is totally normal too! My girl especially wants to wear what SHE WANTS TO WEAR! Usually in the morning of daycare, I try to have her clothes laid out becuase if she goes near her dresser or closet, I knwo a skirt of dress is going to be a huge battle... that is all she ever wants to wear and it is -40 here in Alberta half the winter! My boy has a hockey shirt, and a soccer shirt he loves and will fight for but at the moment our biggest fight is the coats... we bought 2 for each of them... one for daycare becuase daycare does not take very good care of the things, and a roots coat for each of them for going out and weekends.... but they always want the roots coats and it is a huge fight to get them into the walmart coats for school!

 

Yep...we're having clothing battles over here too...It's mainly Lauren. Today she wouldnt wear her gym shoes..only her PURPLE slippers. I did make her wear her shoes when we went to the store and it was a major battle..she kept telling me "pulpo pulpo" most of the way to the store..then forgot. I did however decide it wasnt worth the fight when we went to dinner for my grandpa's birthday tonight and let her wear her "pulpos"!! I figured whatever..and they actualy did match her clothes! LOL We havent been stuck on certain clothing for days..but from day to day she chooses things and that's that in her mind! Yikes! Her sister isnt so bad yet but did insist on wearing the same sundress for 3 days..it's just too bad it barely hit 50 degrees those days..so she didnt go anywhere. I agree..pick your battles!! Also, I wouldnt get rid of the other clothes you have that he wont wear right now....you never know what tomorrow will bring! LOL

 

I will give the clothes choice a try. I really want him to wear some of the pants. I really didn't expect this with my son! Too funny!

Fun to hear what everyone else is going through. I guess this is age 2 for us all!