Gabby Klum

Kenton is on a business trip and Gabby and I have been filling our time with coloring, baby dolls, books, movies, and crafts. We did take a trip to church today as well, which was really nice. The biggest event of the day was the massive tantrum my daughter threw when I asked her to wear this cute dress and the adorable coordinating red tweed jacket (with faux white fur collar and trim on the cuffs) to church. I bought this dress for her to wear for Christmas, but she was so enamored by the one her grandmother bought her, Mommy's choice was chopped liver. Each week I stare at this cute dress hanging in her closet and wonder what it would look like on her. Then I get angry that we spent money on a dress my daughter flat-out refuses to wear. I don't want my daughter to grow up thinking it is ok to just not use things we spend money on. So what does any "good" mom do in a situation like this? Force your kid to wear it, of course. I mean, c'mon!

Usually I am a "pick-your-battles" type of mom. I let Gabby pick out her outfit most days and try to give her control in situations when I feel like I can allow her to have control. But there is just something about this dress that made my blood boil when I thought about her not wearing it. It seriously is SO cute with the jacket. Did I mention it is adorable? I did? Okay.

I figured maybe I could bargain with her to wear the outfit in some way. She gets something she wants and Mommy gets to see that sweet dress on her sweet girl. Ummmmmm, no. My little pistol wanted nothing to do with my adorable dress or it's adorable matching jacket. Curses! I bribed her with a sucker and even that didn't work. She began throwing a temper tantrum, so I sent her to her room. When she came out, she said in the sweetest voice, "Mommy, please don't force me to wear that dress." It broke my heart to hear her use the word "force," so in my sweetest voice I said, "I'm sorry, honey, but you have to wear it." What is WITH me? It's just a dress! Do I have no heart? Do I have no soul? Get over it, Mom! Something inside me just wouldn't let go. It seriously was NOT about the control or power of the situation. I just was so mad that there are plenty of outfits that go to "waste" when she refuses to wear them for whatever reason. This dress was not going to be a casualty of my toddler's opinion. She would WEAR the dress and she would LIKE it. Okay, so she would wear the dress. Liking it was optional.

(Coat photo added after original post was written)

So as you can see, I do have photos of her in the dress, so eventually I persevered. What did it? I figured if I could get her in the dress for a short period of time, she would come to my side...and she did. I told her she had to wear the dress for the hour prior to church (and let me take photos of her in it), but if she wanted to change before church, she could. Once she put the dress on, what did I hear? "Wow! I look so cute in this. I love this skirt. The jacket is itchy, but the dress is cute!" Geesh. Women. Here I was seeing into the future a scene of me going to the mall with my middle-schooler who tells me everything I pick out is ugly (I'm pretty sure I did that to my mom). It wasn't pretty, but maybe, just maybe, things will be okay. I hope in the future a sucker and promise of a clothing change will have the same effect on my 13-yr-old as it does on my 3-yr-old. Anyone know who the patron saint of fashion is? I think we may need help from a higher power.