A morning calm? Say it ain’t so!

Posted in Julie's columns, Mom Stuff
by Julie Wallace

If you’ve ever read any of my posts, you know I’ve lamented loud and often about trying to get clothing on my daughter in the morning.

It’s always been a challenge, and we’ve had some pretty good arguments to start our days trying to beat the clock and make it out of the door on time.

I’m almost afraid to say it for fear of jinxing it, but …. lately, there’s been some calm in our home.

That might have to do with the fact that my daughter now wears pants whereas before it was dresses only. The only hitch? The pants must be black, and they must be stretchy. No jeans. No colors. Nothing must be different.

So yes, she goes to school each day looking like she’s wearing what she wore the day before. But she’s not — I bought seven pairs of the same pants to appease her and I keep the washing machine ready to throw in a quick load of dark clothes just in case.

But it’s more than just simplifying. It’s just routine. We never ever seemed to be able to get a routine that worked before. Now, we seem to have some semblance of one, albeit one with slight variations given the crisis of the morning. (Read: No black pants are clean, Mommy! or, “Mommy, Marley ate my stuffed animal!” or worse)

She watches cartoons and eats breakfast at the same time, and she knows when Little Mermaid is over each morning, that’s it: It’s time to get moving. And she does.

She picks out her pants (as if that is a hard choice), and she picks out her top, or oftentimes, a dress. Yes, she  wears dresses with her pants. If you squint, it kind of looks like the current trend of wearing leggings; that’s my only saving grace.

After that, she grabs the hair pretties she wants and tells me a style — of late, that usually means braids in strange places on her head. But hey, it keeps her happy.

Do I sound as if I’ve grown far more carefree about this whole `how my daughter looks thing?’ I have.

We used to shop exclusively at Gymboree. She loved the dresses; I thought they were cute and she looked nice wearing them. Now, the pants that work are a whopping $7 a pair at Target; hence my seven-pair purchase.

As long as she is clean, her teeth and hair are brushed and she’s wearing clothing, I’m thinking this new transformation is OK.  I just wish it hadn’t taken me nearly seven years to learn.

–Julie Wallace