of jammies and jeans

Last night while Madeline was in the bathtub I got out her clothes for school this morning. I carried the shirt and pants into the bathroom where Madam was bathing and held the outfit up for her approval.

“PANTS?” she sighed. “I don’t like to wear pants.”

“I know, but it’s cold.”

“Emma doesn’t like it when we wear pants. And not jeans. If you wear jeans you can’t come to the party. Dresses are so much better. And boys wear jeans!!”

I sigh. I know. I have heard all of this before. “And what are you supposed to say when someone says something like that?”

“That we include everyone. And I wear what I like. And so does she. An’ everybody else too.”

“Right.”

“But I’m wearing my jammies tomorrow anyway, I’m not wearing any of those clothes.”

Um, news to me? I go into the kitchen and pull last week’s memo from my growing to-be-filed-or-tossed list. Nope, it’s still just Teddy-Bear Day, like I’d typed into my Outlook; they were to bring their “favorite bear” and slippers to wear.

“Maddie, no jammies tomorrow, maybe later this month for Catholic Schools Week.”

“What’s that?”

Why did I say that out loud? “It’s a week where you celebrate your school spirit… like how you like going to your school.”

“Oh. But Mrs. T. says that I can wear my jammies,” she insisted.

We went back and forth for several minutes. “Look, Maddie, I’m not sure, but I will pack some jammies in your backpack and if we get there and it’s jammie day I will take you in the bathroom and help you change, okay?”

“Okay,” she conceded, satisfied.

:::

Guess who was right when we got to her classroom today?

Madeline, of course.

Her classmates were running around in their jammies and slippers, and Madeline, clutching her bear, turned to me with a patient smile, the kind you reserve for naughty children or people who are clearly not getting the obvious. “MOM! See!!”

Her teacher laughed and told me that the kids had been so excited about slippers that she made the concession to jammies; there had been no time for a memo. “But it’s not required, or anything, just for fun,” she said.

I told her about Madeline’s insistence and apologized for not believing her; clearly she’d delivered the message just as her teacher had asked. Then I escorted Madeline to the bathroom where she quickly donned her bedtime gear. “It’s okay, Mom,” she consoled as she pulled her shirt over her head. “Everyone makes mistakes, you know? And you brought my jammies anyway, so that was a good job. We just haffa listen to each other, you know?”

(I always love these impromptu performance reviews, especially when I hear my own words repeated back to me – that line about listening is a classic of mine.)

The kids were so adorable playing in their jammies and slippers, and were clearly proud to show off their bears. Madeline’s choice was a “Peace” Beanie Baby that I’ve had for years; out of her whole motley crew he claimed her affection for the day. “He’s very colorful and beautiful,” I heard her explaining to a friend. “He was my mom’s but she gave him to me for good.”

:::

It’s sort of a good thing that it was jammie day in her classroom, because when I got her dressed today her clothes didn’t fit.

I’m not kidding, it was an overnight thing. I’d always thought that parents exaggerated about their children growing out of things “overnight,” assuming that they just weren’t paying attention. But there she was in front of me this very morning, all wrists and ankles in an outfit she’d just worn without issue last week – maybe Wednesday or Friday? It hasn’t been long, she loves the kitty shirt.  

“Madeline, you grew! Look, your pants are getting too short! I can see almost all of your sock!”

“So? I like these lacy ones.”

“I know, they’re cute, but you’re not supposed to see all of your sock with your pants on. You can’t wear those, you have to wear your jeans, those are way too short.”

This created a lot of huffing, because of all the clothes that one can wear to school, jeans are at the bottom because boys wear them too. ICK!

Anyway, jeans present a whole other set of difficulties in our household – you see, she really needs a belt with her pants depsite the adjustable waist (oh how I love the adjustable waist, thank you Children’s Place!) but I can’t do that to her just yet. She would have a really hard time with it in the bathroom, and I’m supposed to be fostering independence in that area, not burdening her with more snaps and buckles. Anyway, jeans require a long shirt/tunic to avoid wardrobe malfunctions, and once we found one we were good to go; however, she only has a few. Looks like we’ll be going shopping this weekend; I really cannot believe that I need to buy 5T clothes. That’s the last toddler size, isn’t it?

“How did this happen?” I wondered out loud, helping her into the jeans. ”I feel like I just put away your 6 month outfits.”

“Mom,” she sighed, “you know how this works. I eat my food and I sleep like a big girl and then – I grow! I grow bigger and bigger and bigger.”

“I know. We’ll have to get you some longer pants this weekend, okay?”  

“I can just wear my dresses,” she offered helpfully. “I don’t really need to have any pants at all. Or ever!”

Oh, my girliest of girls.

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