Dress Code

I think that it is official. I am screwed.

My little (well, not so little now) boy has thrown me some curve balls but for the most part I can see them coming a mile away. Don't want to leave a friend's house...I anticipate a meltdown. Tired and not getting what you want...I anticipate a meltdown. Don't like the clothes I lay our for you...well, he has never seemed to care. I never really appreciated that until now.

My little girl...well she's a totally different story. I must remind you that she isn't even THREE years old yet. She has hit temper tantrums full force this year and quite honestly, I can deal with them. What transpired today...not so prepared for.

I picked out an outfit for her to wear to school. A pair of capris and a striped shirt. It was cute, it was comfortable, and she has worn it multiple times with no complaints. That was not the case this morning. Her protests were so loud to my wardrobe choices that I think the neighbors 4 houses away could hear the screams of torture at 7 in the morning. It was like I has chosen a prairie dress and a bonnet. We fought, we yelled, my husband intervened and after about 25 minutes and 10 trips to time out she conceded and put on the pants. (she comes by her stubbornness quite honestly!)

As I was walking out the door to take the kids to school, I gave my husband a small high five claiming victory and patted myself on the back for breaking the little girl down.

So wouldn't you know how surprised I was when she came home from school in a DIFFERENT pair of pants. As she walked in the room and I got a look at her, the very first question I asked was not "how was your day honey?" but rather, "where did you get those pants?" And don't you love toddler honesty, she looked me straight in the eye and said, "I didn't like the pants I was wearing so I put these in my bag and my teacher put them on."

So take that Momma. You are so screwed.

Lessons on Mother's Day

I struggle constantly with the idea of bribing versus positive reinforcement. The big boy is at a point where he REALLY appreciates the value of a dollar...he saves up, rolls pennies, and begs for trips to target to buy legos when he has "earned"enough money.

This morning, being Mother's Day and all, was no different. We were all racing around trying to get dressed for the brunch that I arranged. (mother's day or not, if you want it the way you want it...do it yourself!). A control freak on all fronts, I had already placed the kids' clothes on their beds and was trying to dry my hair and put on a smidge of makeup before we left. And just like every other day, the little girl refused to wear what I put out for her. No amount of "its too cold to wear a sleeveless dress" and "no you can't wear your fleece sweatsuit" was getting through her adorable little head of blond curls. There were tears, tantrums, and fears for what this says about our teen years. Exasperated and desperate to get some concealer on the bags under my eyes worthy of a surcharge at US Airways I offered the big boy three dollars to help her get dressed.

Desperate for a new star wars lego set...he accepted the challenge.

And wouldn't you know it that three minutes later she came bounding into the bathroom with her dress on (albeit backwards) and a big smile on her face.

So for three dollars I learned, all you have to do is take her baby doll away, put it WAY up on the dresser where she can't reach it and tell her she can have it back when she puts her dress on. And viola...her dress is on.

It may be Mother's Day, but I got schooled in mothering by my 5 year old today. I would say he definitely "earned" his money!