Perfectly Pink

Ella is dressing herself these days thus a new chapter begins in our lives. Today is the coldest day of the year so I planned ahead for the 15 to 20 minute process of Ella picking her own outfits. I cleared the closet of her short sleeve shirts, dresses without tights or pants, princess dresses, etc. All that was left were the more “appropriate” outfits for her choosing. We are becoming more used to the colorful matches and conflicting patterns she always seems to choose. Whatever….. We have a finite of time in the morning to get ready and go so I learned to say “uncle” long ago and move on with our day.

Sidebar: This morning we woke to a cool 32 degrees and a north wind. When did we start having winter in Texas? Better question, when will we go back to normal?

Ella chose her hot pink multi color polka dot pants and her brown sweater top with pink and white hearts to wear. I, as always, said it does not match but okay. Her, as always, response was, “Yes it dues”. (She means to say “does” but cannot understand why “do” cannot be made plural. I do not either so I let it go thinking she will grow out it eventually—that is what English teachers are for, right?)

After putting on her unique attire she informed with a miserable cry that she does not like the color brown and this top simply will not work. She wants pink. Always pink. With her still crying I grab a pink turtleneck and pull it over her head thinking problem was solved. Wrong again. “This neck is bothersome,” she complained during a brief break from the whiny cry. No lie-she said it. I am losing patience at this point. Pick your clothes or don’t but let’s get on with this show.

Finally, she digs in the bottom of her closet- the corner where unknown things lie and I am saving to clean out on a day when I have nothing to do (knowing that day is not likely to come anytime soon). Drum roll please…..she pulls out another pink shirt that was long sleeved but was also one size too small. Again, whatever. She put in on, I slipped her coat around her and we were off to school. Once there, she removed her coat and to my surprise the shirt is not only one size too small but is somewhat of a belly shirt (i.e. it shows her toddler belly).

“Nice” was my only comment and I cut my eyes to her teacher. Ms. Margaret is too sweet to make a smart aleck comment like mine and simply said that it is too cold to go out side anyway and Ella will be fine in her “perfectly PINK outfit”. Good. Done. We all have lived to fight the battle another day! My family will say Ella comes by her hard head naturally. Hunt will say Ella’s mother does not always match perfectly. So if she is so much like me maybe tomorrow I will stuff candy in the pockets of the outfit I want her to choose and we can end he war before the battle starts. To be continued…..