Animal House
Wes has INSISTED lately on picking out his own shirts. It drives me crazy because it takes him FOR-EVER. Yesterday he decided on this long-sleeve button-up. I allowed it because (a) I didn’t want him pitching a fit and (b) I knew it had buttons to keep the sleeves rolled up. When his sister saw what he chose, however, she decided she needed to adjust her outfit to match since she has the same shirt in her size. Hence the fashion-forward ensemble you see above. I feel like I need to carry a sign around with me that says, “My Kids Dress Themselves” – just as an explanation of the crazy outfits they wear. Lord knows I don’t want anyone crediting those combinations with ME. It’s hard enough to try to get people to take you seriously when you always look like you rolled out of bed, I want to at least pretend that if I had control over my kids THEY would look better than ME. Alas – we all just end up walking around town looking like blind hobos. At least the kids are cute.
And let’s talk about Nikki’s reading selection for the week – shall we? After E’s first day of school we did the token check-writing and form-filling-outing (?) routine that comes at the beginning of every year. We always have to sign the back page of the handbook to “prove” we’re read it. Which – we have over the years – at least read the parts that have applied to us. But it’s basically the same every year and after 10 years? It kinda just ends up in the trash. Sorry Huntsville City Schools. But this year? NikkiZ decided she needed it. She has carried it around with her everywhere. Sometimes she writes in it, sometimes she “reads” from it. Usually this involves her two favorite things to talk about: Poop and Princesses. I like to think she really IS reading from the handbook and that someone at the Handbook Office knows parents rarely read it cover-to-cover and insert some of what she’s “reading” just to keep us on our toes.
When she took it to preschool yesterday I made sure to explain to her teacher that we (a) were not trying to send her hints about the way we think she should be managing her classroom AND (b) didn’t expect her to read this particular book to the class like she normally does when students bring in books.
The point of this entry? My kids are Weird. They get that from their Father, you know. Because we all know their Mother is perfectly normal in every way.
I don’t carry a sign, but I do find myself Making Announcements. Like, when my 3-year-old wants to wear two completely unmatched shoes, and a clerk says “Hi” to him—not anything about the shoes, mind you, just a greeting—I’m sort of tripping over myself to segue into a discussion about who is responsible for the shoes. “Ha ha, say ‘hi,’ Henry! Ha ha. HE CHOSE HIS OWN SHOES TODAY.”
I may have to ask my Mum if I did anything like this when I was little lol.
Ya know, I don’t even “see” what P leaves the house in. And I take her to school. I stopped looking. I assumed everyone knows she dressed herself since I am standing there in clothes that DO match!
So….who cares?!?!?! We don’t have kids with the most adorable hairbows in their hair or Strasburg dresses on. You know what we do have? Creative kids that can get dirty without us adding that to our list of stuff to stress about!
The end of this entry cracked me up because during the whole first part I was thinking about my habit of blaming whatever my child shows up in daycare wearing on his father (out loud, to the teachers). Hee!
This post just made me so happy. LOOK at their shirts, they are so stylin’!
my girls go to preschool a couple hours in the morning a few days a week. i love standing in the hallway before school and looking at how everyone is dressed. i call it “preschool hobo chic”. all the kids are doing it. i also think it’s called “choosing your battles in the a.m.” and i think it’s GREAT!!
when my children look at pictures in 10 years and wonder why they’re wearing striped red and white elf socks with crocs and their easter dresses, they will only have themselves to blame.