Wardrobe Woes

Well, I figured it would happen at some point; I just didn't expect it to be so soon. I thought I would have at least another 10 years before it started. What am I referring to? Wardrobe drama with my daughter. Yes, getting dressed and deciding what Aubrey is going to wear each day has now become a MAJOR ordeal at our house. It usually involves weeping and gnashing of teeth. From both of us. How is Aubrey already this opinionated about her clothes at age two and a half??! What is my life going to be like when she is 13??!

Seriously, Aubrey has recently developed some VERY strong ideas about what she does and doesn't want to wear. The child changes clothes no less than 5 times a day. Sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) there is a pile of clean "baby laundry" in the floor of my room waiting to be put away. I can just never stay on top of this because really the only time to fold laundry is when my little "helper" is sleeping, otherwise my neatly folded piles end up strewn all over the place and not so neat and not so folded. However, it's kind of hard to fold and put away laundry when the kids are sleeping if the laundry needs to be put away in the kids' rooms. Plus, I feel like I literally do a HUGE load of Aubrey and Jude's laundry every other day. (Have I mentioned that we're potty training and that Aubrey changes clothes 5 times a day?) So, Aubrey usually has a nice little stack of clothes to choose from conveniently located right in the floor of my room. This makes it very easy for her to slip in there and do a quick wardrobe change whenever the urge strikes her. And it apparently strikes her a lot.

I try to let her express her creativity and pick her own outfits when we aren't going anywhere. She likes to pick out some rather colorful ensembles. I'm sure you've noticed that she's usually wearing a pretty off the wall outfit in pictures that I post of her. In case you've forgotten, let me refresh your memory:

Pink on Pink

Mismatched BOY pajamas

Pajama shirt and no pants outside

Christmas shirt in April with random pajama bottoms

Just clashes

So yeah, Aubrey definitely has some say in what she wears around the house. However, I'm just NOT going to let my two and a half year old decide what she wears OUT of the house. Maybe I'm mean, but I like to think that I'm just protecting her from herself :) She'll thank me later, I know she will. She doesn't see it quite like that right now, though. I have just come to accept the fact that there is going to be a HUGE meltdown when it comes time to get dressed to go out. And it does not matter what I pick out for her to wear. She NEVER wants to wear it. Sometimes, I've already picked out her clothes and ironed them, and she decides she wants to wear something else. The thing that she wants to wear might actually be a "real outfit" that I would be ok with her wearing if I hadn't already ironed something else and gotten the shoes/bow to go with it (we're always running late and I just don't have time for a last minute outfit swap). So the next day, I decide that I'll let her wear the outfit that she was having a FIT to wear the day before. But it's too late. She is completely over that outfit and has her heart set on a different one. Different day, different favorite outfit, new meltdown. So, basically, I can't win!

I'm kind of speaking lightly and jokingly about all of this, but it really is stressful. I used to love picking out Aubrey's clothes and getting her dressed and fixing her hair and putting her bow and shoes on. Now it's something I pretty much dread, because I know what an ordeal it's going to be. I'm also having to teach her that throwing fits when she doesn't get her way is never acceptable behavior. It seems silly that something as simple as clothes has now lead to major disciplinary issues. I want to give her some independence, and that's why I do let her wear whatever she wants around the house, and I try to work with her and pick stuff that I think she likes. But, at the end of the day, she just has to learn that she can't be in charge of everything, and if it takes something like clothes to teach her that, well, I guess that's just how it's going to be. I'm also having to crack down on the number of times a day that she can change clothes. Of course she changes clothes if she has an accident, and I let her change when we get home if I have made her wear something that she hates. I just can't stay on top of the laundry if she changes 12 times a day!

Also, Aubrey will NOT keep her shoes on when we get in the car. I'm always having to put shoes and socks on when we get where we're going. I know this is pretty common, though. She doesn't really care for bows anymore, either. She used to LOVE bows, but now she rarely wants to wear them. She will tolerate them for a little while, but she usually ends up ripping them out of her hair and totally messing up her hair. She then looks like she has bed head after ripping a bow out of it! Ha!

So, all that to say, we're having some trouble in the clothing department at the Howie house. I'm praying that this isn't a sign of things to come in her teenage years. Maybe she is getting all of her wardrobe angst of of her system now and it will be smooth sailing from here on out? Maybe? Am I the only one with a two year old who is this opinionated, or is this normal??