Morgen and the pants

Morgen is a funny, in-between size right now. She's too big for the twelve-month pants, and too small for most eighteen-month pants. So we run out of workable outfits pretty quickly, and we need to do laundry more often than we'd like. Enter the jumper. Somehow we always save these things for our last desperate attempts at dressing her before we cave and do the laundry.

When Morgen was small, before she could jump, or walk, we had a pink jumper that we loved to put her in. It was warm, and it was cute. Ok, it was still pink, but as I've said before, I've given up on avoiding pink things...mostly. The point is, it was a jumper, and it fit her for a very long time through many of her earlier awkward growing stages. Let's call it Pinky.

We now have two jumpers that we bought second hand at the same place that gave us Pinky. Morgen likes the red one, but she has worn it so often that it has developed a small tear that I need to mend...and if I can't be bothered to do laundry, I'm certainly not going to get right on that domestic chore...Morgen dislikes the other one, the blue flowery number pictured here. I can't imagine why. Oh, wait, maybe because it's a little odd-looking?? At any rate, she refused to put it on this morning until I told her it was a special outfit called a "jumper" that is made to help people jump higher. If there is one thing Morgen likes, it's jumping. Should I still be feeling guilty for sending her to school in something she didn't want to wear? Or for manipulating her into putting it on in the first place?

We have a friend who's first born child refused to keep clothes on for about the first three years of his life. Visits with them were always fun, and usually included this little person gradually disrobing to the point of complete nakedness (no diaper even) while doing more and more gymnastics about the living room. Morgen has lately wanted to get rid of extra layers, for example, she insisted on taking her dress off this weekend (after all, she had tights and a shirt underneath it), wants to stay naked after her bath (doesn't even like the towel, which she used to enjoy) and this morning's incident may be an indication of struggles to come. She's becoming more particular about what goes on her in the first place. I'm guessing that the number of "special" outfits I can come up with will not match her will to assert control over her clothes. So, should I give up now? Maybe I'll just do the laundry tonight. Or maybe I'll just sew up her red jumper. Decisions, decisions.