Patting myself on the back

Okay, I wish I could really do that well, I have a heck of a knot in my shoulder that is just not going away...

BUT, do you ever have a parenting moment where you are like "oh yeah, totally got that one figured out!"  Well, at this point in the game, I know that I will never have it all figured out, and that if I do, they will change, and I will have to figure something else out.  BUT, baby steps right. 

This though, this has worked for two whole months now, and I am so proud of myself that I have told everyone and am writing it down here. Grace LOVES her dresses, and if it was entirely up to her, we would just wait outside of the wash and dryer in her undies waiting for them to be clean so she could wear her two favorite(... thanks Uncle Ry) every day.  However, girlfriend has a ton of adorable clothes, some of which Grandma and I have made and we love to see her in them! 

At any rate, our strategy... hangers with clippy things.  I have six, so we put one whole outfit a day onto each hanger, and hang them up, including the Uncle Ry dresses, and she gets to choose which outfits.  The dresses always go first, but then she will happily wear the rest of the outfits without much argument (as long as they do not include jeans / jean like pants which she does not like)...she likes helping put outfits on the hangers, she gets to choose, she knows about when the dresses will be back "up", it is easier if Brian is getting her dressed, he doesn't have to worry about "outfits" and the screaming and arguing and wanting clothes that do not exist and naked running around while crying because she has changed her mind about what she wants to wear or simply about having to get dressed at all is much much reduced.  ah, breathe.

I know this isn't necessarily brilliant formative parenting, and probably par for the course for most parents.  However, for us to have a solution to a problem that doesn't involve a "toughing it out while laying down the rules" stage, or using my unnaturally calm parenting voice and the patience of a saint to face an expressive toddler whose changing desires and emotions can give a person whiplash, makes me very happy because we are all happy with the outcome. 

Now if I can only figure out the best way to have them talk in normal voices instead of YELLING (usually with enthusiasm, sometimes with frustration, or sometimes just because who knows why)... I feel like I am back in Old-Field trying to explain to Michael (German) and Gio (Italian) that being the loudest doesn't mean that you win a conversation.