Before we knew we were having a boy, I worried about dressing a boy. Boys clothes lacked a lot to be desired. Everything came with dogs and bears or cartoon characters and silly sayings. I wanted polo shirts and cute shorts. Jeans and button downs. Sweaters and cords. Basically, the same type of clothes grown men like my husband and dad wore. I mean, girls clothes came in darling tulle dresses, sequin heart tops, or ruffled skirts by the rackful. But when I finally found the right stores to shop in for McKinley, like Boden and Janie & Jack, he's been dressed in style since birth!
I knew this day would come, I just wasn't sure when. The day that McKinley would announce that he wanted to pick out his own clothes. The horror! I've been dressing him single handedly since day one! And I think I've done a pretty decent job thus far! There have been days, weekends mostly, that he picks out something to wear, but it's generally for days he's playing outside, headed to Emerald City to play, climb, and jump, just not on a daily school day basis. And all I can say is, thank goodness his wardrobe is somewhat fool proof for this leap into styling himself. However, this is what happened when he picked out his look for last year's school carnival....
The day happened to be last Thursday when he woke up in a bad mood, was getting himself dressed, and was "forced" to wear a button down shirt. A button down shirt he picked out at H&M over the summer that is covered in tiny construction equipment. I styled it with jeans and a cute navy and yellow vest. And tennis shoes, of course. But the button down shirt was the issue and he stated that he was tired of dressing up everyday for school! I asked him what exactly about the outfit made it so dressy and exclaimed that it was the button down. So we made a compromise. Instead of the casual vest I had picked to go over the shirt, we settled on a red "sweatshirt" half zip pullover that gave the appearance of being "dressed down". In all honestly, the pullover was dressier than the vest, but I went with it. And I played along when he told me he was going to pick out his clothes going forward.
As we drove to school that day, I told him that it was fine that he picked out his clothes, but I needed to have a little say, like that it matched. "It has to match?", he basically yelled from the backseat, and I'm pretty sure you could hear my eyes roll as he said it. "Yes it has to match", I said. "This is a non-negotiable"! He huffed! I explained to him that he has a certain style, a style that everyone associates with him, and I'm not willing to really budge on that. School is a place, like church, that we must show respect, and he is going to dress respectfully. It's his job for now, and he is going to dress like he's going to work! I wasn't allowed to dress down for school. I always looked cute and put together. And maybe that's expected of girls, but I also feel it should be expected of boys. Women and men. I have a very strong opinion on how I think people should dress!! Very strong!
I went on to say that if he wanted to pick out his clothes for school, this must be done every night before bed. We don't have the luxury of spending time putting his "look" together in the mornings. We barely have time for the things we have to do to get out the door. His response, "Well, I'm not going to pick them out everyday......" Did you hear my eyes roll again? So, Thursday evening, he started the process. "Mama, what jeans should I wear? Mama, where is my Mahomes jersey? Mama, what shirt should I wear under the jersey?" Good thing he's picking out his clothes! Satisfied with the contents, he went on to the rest of the evenings bedtime routine. Here is the final look! His outfit, his pose, his most prized position.
Sunday night, not a word was said about putting his outfit together. Guess who did it? And, when he got dressed this morning, guess who put that look together? And not a word has been said by Mr. Fashionisto himself. He's gotten dressed, eaten his breakfast, and complained about other things like not getting to eat something unhealthy for healthy morning snack. I'm surprised my eyes are still in their socket! Here's Mr. Sunshine himself this morning!
The new Mini Boden catalog came the other day and he picked out all the items he liked best. And can you believe they are all the same types of things that exist in his wardrobe today? Cute tees with embroidered animals doing hilarious things, sweatshirts with sharks swimming in pools and half sized lobsters, sweaters with cute strips, and so on. All of the things that make him look too dressy on a daily basis. You see, the thing is, I allow him to pick out his clothes. He picks them out of the Boden catalog, off the Carter's website, from the H&M kids section in the store. It's that I layer them with button downs to keep him warm in the winter, long sleeved tees under short sleeves for the same reason, or turtlenecks under sweaters and sweatshirts for layering when he removes one during the day. He just sees them as dressy. I see them as completing a super cute look! A look that is definitely one of a kind.
I know that one day, all of this will come to an end. I know that cute Boden appliqued shirts will be replaced with something else. I'm hopeful, it's still polo style shirts, button downs with v-neck sweaters, and khaki shorts in the summer. And yes, things will still need to match. I just hope my eyes are still in their sockets!
McKinley's wardrobe in review. Stylish young man.
At what age did your child(ren) start picking out their own daily clothes? From most of my girl mom friends, I've been told since about Kindergarten. Not sure about boy moms. But this boy mom is hopeful it will last a while!
XO,
Andrea
