Most of us are thrilled to shed the sweaters, jeans and socks in favor of t-shirts, shorts and sandals. Not N. He is most comfortable the more he is covered up-- long pants, long sleeves, socks and shoes a must. Even better are boots, and sweatshirts with hoods that he can cover his head with. So each spring we have to go through the painful process of convincing him that it really is too warm to wear his long pants and long sleeved shirts, and that sandals really should be worn without socks. It is torture for him and us. A recent conversation went like this.
"OK N, let's get dressed!" I say with forced cheerfulness.
"But Mama! Why am I wearing this shirt? I want down sleeves, not up sleeves!"
"Well N, it is a warm day, and when it gets warmer, you need to wear short sleeves" I explain as I pull the shirt over his head.
"But Mama!" He complains as he tries to tug the sleeves down over his elbows.
While he is distracted I pull on his shorts. He immediately stops the action with his sleeves and says, "What happened to my pants? Look!! They don't fit!"
He tries to tug his pants down to his ankles all the while moaning and groaning, "Uuugh!! Uughh! UUUUGGGHHH!" He is only stopped when he realizes I am putting on his crocs without socks. "Noo!! I want socks! My toes want socks! I am just a little boy!"
"N, this is what we wear in the summer. See? Mommy has short sleeves on! I have no socks! Look at E and K! They are the same. You will get all hot and sweaty in those other clothes!" I say through gritted teeth as I wrestle the shoes over his balled up feet.
Reasoning does not work, he just gets more agitated. So I end up giving him a hooded sweatshirt as a compromise. He immediately zips it all the way up, and pulls it over his head.
Fast forward half an hour, after playing outside.
"Mama! I am all sweaty!! I want to come inside!"
I finally convince him to give up the sweatshirt, but he does so reluctantly. As he runs off I breathe a sigh of relief. Round 1 is over. I ultimately won, but the summer months stretch before me. I am not looking forward to the swimsuit battle. Because "up sleeves" are one thing, getting my boy to go without a shirt is a whole other ball game.
N in one of his favorite outfits (crocs complete with socks).
10 comments:
LOL! The ideas they get stuck in their heads!
it sounds to me like N's going to have to live in the great NW one day! he could wear his "down sleeves" and socks with sandals and long pants most of the year here and not get too sweaty! the flip side of this story, however, are the grown men i know who wear shorts year round (until the weather goes BELOW 0)!!
Sorry to gross you out! I was trying to display the gravity of the situation. Perhaps I went too far. I'm blaming the drugs!
daisy, i'm reading your blog. call it blog-stalking, call it lurking, call it not having any free hands to type while nursing a baby and yelling at a toddler!! i love reading it, your stories are great and it's so fun and encouraging to hear that this phase passes!
So funny because I had a similar situation with Caleb. He was very upset his shirt didn't go all the way down his arm. He was trying to pull the sleeves down and yelling, "no". He finally gave in but that was a tough morning. Hopefully it gets better with you with N:)
i love this story and i love telling other moms of toddlers, because it is so stinkin' cute. He's only being totally rational, right? Clothes are supposed to cover your limbs, right? :)
He is his own person! What personality! My youngest has idiosyncracies like this too; I know how exasperating it can be!
My favorite line is, "I'm just a little boy!" He knows how to tug at your heartstrings.
Well at least there is always the Land's End no-chaffing long sleeved swim shirts. He'll be the cutest "surfer" at the pool! :)
And won't those tan lines look great with his polo shirt forced on him for church on Sunday? :)
Oh, wait, I forgot... Noah won't be the only one wearing a hooded sweatshirt zipped up all summer long at church too!
Brrr that AC is cool.
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