Sunday, January 4, 2009

You Gotta Love Him

After church on Sundays and before my car has turned into our driveway, my children begin desperately clamoring out of their dress clothes. Shoes, socks, and hair bows fly through the air in attempts to disengage from all attire that could possibly suggest that they are well groomed.

Confines of ties, belts, and tights clearly suffocate the individual tastes of each child, which is why when given the opportunity to change into play clothes, it is accomplished with a joy that surpasses any concern for color coordination or current weather conditions.

In this tenth year of parenting, we find that it takes concerted effort and notice on our part to give attention to a phenomenon that has admittedly become commonplace in our household. Every once in a while, a particular ensemble chosen by one of our children causes exaggerated pause, and even disbelief, as we try to understand the reasoning behind the choice that can only fall into the clothing category of fugitive.

Today, Chandler brought us out of our fog of outfit denial when he showcased the following threads he would be playing in for the afternoon.

His upper body is prepared for the cold while his lower body is ready for the warmth. In his seven year old mind, all bases were covered.



Notice that a turtle neck turned inside out is of no concern to a child whose main objective is to fly his new, remote controlled airplane. Not to mention, that if there was any question as how to properly wash and dry this shirt, the instructions are available for all to see.

(The blue gatorade highlighting his upper lip will be a mainstay the remainder of the day.He is still unaware of his blue mustache which should coordinate well with the uniform he will wear to school in the morning.)



Obviously, there isn't time to change from dress sock to athletic socks when precious moments that could be spent playing outside are at stake. Substitute a grown man's stained undershirt for the turtleneck to coincide with the dress socks and you get a small glimpse of Chandler's in 40 years, lounging in a recliner adorned with a fancy cup holder and a firm grip on the remote control.

He, too, will be ignoring the mismatched clothes of his offspring until an inside-out shirt demands his attention and disbelief.

5 comments:

Jennifer said...

I LOVE IT!!! Watch him grow up to be all GQ....

Me said...

Having seen my son dressed in similar attire too many times to count, I must say my favorite part is the dress socks with athletic shoes.

LOVE that. I hope you didn't let him out of the house, into the backyard this way! LOL.

Joni said...

M-
Oh yeah, he was outside. And at the neighbor's house and at the grocery store.

We really have lost all pride....

Anonymous said...

You have to pick your battles. Many times I have gone to the grocery store and ran errands accompanied by Batgirl (in FULL costume attire). The looks from onlookers does not even phase me anymore.

Me said...

** Hey Girl - you've been on my mind BIG TIME the last two day.

Was going to email but thought I'd just comment here instead and say - what's going on with you guys? There has to be a reason you wouldn't get out of my head for 2 days now. What it is? LOL.