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Between the ages of two and three, toddlers start coming into their own enough to be concerned with their clothes. My guess is that most girls will take interest in dressing themselves before boys do, just from what I’ve seen with the boys and girls I know.
My son has just recently started caring about his clothes. Before, he would be interested in taking his clothes off, but he didn’t much mind what clothes were on when he was dressed. But a week or two ago, he refused to wear anything but his puppy shirt – which just happened to be the top of his pajamas. Any attempt to take his jammies off and put on the shirt I’d picked out was met with stiff arms and a very loud scream of “Puuuuppyyyyy shiiiiiiiirt!”
Then there was yesterday morning. We had to get dressed to go to our Tumbling Tykes class, and TJ ended up sitting on the bed next to the clean clothes basket. He picked out his tiger shirt. I put the tiger shirt on, but then he decided he wanted the soccer ball sweatshirt. Of course, I tried to take the tiger shirt off, and he realized he hadn’t changed his mind after all. “Tiger shirt ON,” he insisted. So the tiger shirt stayed on.
I’m quite proud of my little man picking out his tiger shirt to wear today. I’m sure I’ll be a little less thrilled, though, when picking out clothes to wear becomes a battle of wills. I may end up having to resign myself to telling other people, “He dressed himself today,” to a reply of knowing nods.
I do hope to ward off too many fashion designers by offering a choice of whole outfits instead of single pieces of clothing. He can choose the tiger shirt with green pants OR the soccer ball sweatshirt and gray sweatpants – but not mix and match. That was advice from my mother, who most recently had to battle about fashion with the four-year-old girl she babysits.
That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.
