12 March 2009

The Pants 180

For the last year, maybe longer, Zoe has almost exclusively worn "soft pants" or their shorts equivalent. "Soft pants" are stretch pants, but they are not as tight as leggings. They are like yoga pants, but they are not wide-legged either. I know this because of all the "soft pant" rejects that crowd the bottom drawer of Zoe's dresser. This fall Old Navy was good enough to produce the perfect "soft pants" and for once I was smart and I bought them in every color except pink. Pink anything went the way of skirts, dresses and all other pants at that same moment last year.

For the most part I let Zoe pick out what she is going to wear each day. I let her pick her pants and then help her choose a shirt that matches. On Thursdays I get to select her outfit and as long as it is not a skirt or a dress she usually wears the outfit I select. I almost always choose the one pair of jeans that she owns and a shirt she rarely wears. Every week since school started she has complained about these jeans and sometimes has even managed to talk me out of selecting them.

This week on Tuesday night when we were picking out clothes for Wednesday Zoe said I should pick and that would mean I wouldn't get to choose for Thursday. I agreed to that and immediately reached for the jeans. She happily wore her jeans to school on Wednesday and then on Wednesday night when we were getting ready for bed and about to choose Thursday's clothes she informed me that she wanted to wear jeans every day from now on. Excuse me? Did I hear that correctly? Apparently so because when I explained to her that her one pair of jeans was dirty she asked me to please wash them so she could wear them again. I agreed because I am sick of the "soft pants" and what is one more load of laundry anyway. At the risk of her changing her mind, I had to ask her why, after all these months and months of wanting to wear nothing but soft pants, did she suddenly decide it had to be jeans?

Her answer: Because I am an artist and all artists wear jeans everyday.

I have absolutely no idea where that came from and I didn't even ask.

6 comments:

HT said...

An Artiste in our midst! You better buy some more EXACTLY the same jeans mama!

Emily Barton said...

I hope the blogosphere is still around (or archived) or something when Zoe is 25. It's going to be so much fun for you two to read posts like this together, and maybe at that point, if she remembers it, she'll have some other insight into it that she's not telling you at this point.

tracie valentino said...

I love it! I can honestly say--as an "artist"--that I do wear jeans quite a bit :)

She looked cute in her jeans the other night. I'm sure the change in look is more than welcome on your end. Man, I am savoring every bit of dressing Eleanor while I can! :)

Anonymous said...

Ah the War of the Clothes. DD had a good 18 months where she only wore dresses. EVERYDAY - ONLY DRESSES - regardless of the weather, season or occassion. For her 4th birthday we had to tell her that she couldn't go to her own party unless she wore pants and she finally complied.

And I love the "soft pants." We have "tasha shirts" in our house which are actually just undershirts but it looked like a top that a cartoon character (Tasha) wore so they became tasha shirts.

I just got some great designer jeans for DD at TJ Maxx for $12 if you're looking to stock up :)

ZoesMom said...

HT -- we got 2 more pairs of the exact same jean -- one light, one dark, but the EXACT same.

Emily -- I hope so too! I also hope for that insight.

Tracie -- I am very happy to be rid of the soft pants. Luckily this jeans thing seems to be sticking.

ZoesMom said...

Sara -- I have friends who went through the "only dresses" thing too. I have tried to pick my battles with clothes, but it is not always easy!