I don't like that

H's class had a "Fairy Tale Ball" at school a while ago. I am not a big fan of some of the activities the school engages in for a couple of reasons but I do try to have H participate if he so desires and not weigh in with my biases.

The class had spent the week learning about and reading nursery rhymes. At some point, we were notified that a Fairy Tale Ball would take place and the kids could dress up at fairly tale characters. This primarily meant all the girls could be princesses and have twirly dresses and the boys, well, they could come up with something like a Prince Charming.

We don't have any Prince Charming stuff. We are about all things transportation and animal kingdom. As it happens, whenever dressing up is mentioned, H wants to wear his frog costume, This is a one piece fleece frog suit gained from the school garage sale in his first year at the school for only $3. It is from Old Navy and is really well made and wears and washes well. H even wore it to the "Super" birthday party in the fall. He was the only frog. There were Super Boys and Girls and Spidermen - well you get the gist of the theme - and one frog. I have the best pictures of Super Girl and Super Boy as the frog H hops around.

H loves froggie. So, he wanted to wear froggie to the school dress up "Fairy Tale Ball." It occurred to me that work as the "Enchanted Prince."

Mommy, the what? I don't want to be a Prince. I'm a frog!

The designated day came and all manner of "fancy" dresses appeared and some Prince Charming outfits and some not so much were worn by the boys. There were treats, music, and dancing. A picture was taken of H with one of his favorite girl classmates - imagine an old school snow white dancing with the frog and you get the picture - very cute I might add.

Anyway, that night during talking time when he talks in an effort to keep me from leaving the room so he has to go to bed, the topic turned to the day's events.

Did you have a good day today?
No.
Did you have fun at the ball?
No. I liked the dancing.
Well, what didn't you like about the ball?
Mommy, they made fun of me wearing froggy.
Who did?
The kids in my class.
I'm sorry honey. Who made fun of you?
My friends.
I'm sorry to hear that. Sometimes people are not very nice. Did it upset you?
Uh huh. I didn't like that.

The sound of a Mommy heart breaking....

Tightscapade

H wanted to wear an outfit like a ballerina we saw in a book. Basically the girls were dressed in leotards but the book called them Three Ballerinas. He knew there was some other kind of "thing" the girls wore for ballerinas that twirled when they spin around. So, I said we could get an outfit like that. I was able to find the ideal items at the local WM but opted for tights and a shirt with slip ones instead of the leotards for obvious reasons. Then I happened upon that other "thing." Yes I found the perfect pink tutu. Simple in design and likely washable, he could twirl like the dancers he saw which is what he really wanted to do with the whole out fit.

When I returned home with my finds, H was ecstatic - as much as he shows his excitement which is by slightly animated talking with a shine in his eyes and intense interest in the items at hand. H is not a highly excitable kid but if you know you can read him pretty well.

Mom, look now I can twirl! See!

Mom, I really like these pants. are these pants? 

They are really warm and I like how comfortable they are on my legs! 

Understand H has not worn jeans more than twice since he turned TWO and I had to stop putting him in jean overalls to begin potty training (at his request.) I might add he was the cutest thing in his jean overalls and they withstood everything!

So, H was quite happy with this arrangement. To appease both dad and H, he was allowed to wear the tights under his other cotton soft pants if we went to the store but he would randomly put them on and wander around the house.

So, I was not too surprised when he came home with this question one day but a little surprised because he is a bit reserved when sharing information. 

"Why do they call me a girl? I told them about my new pants and they called me a girl?"

"Did you tell your friends at school about your tights?"

"YES! And I told them they were pink." 

I was sad that he was sad about this statement as we often discuss what makes things "boy" or "girl" and it is not clothes, toys, colors, jobs, etc, and he really enjoyed the whole experience in its innocence.

Well, mom sprang into action and thank goodness for the internet!

"H, did you know that in Kaz boys wear tights when it gets cold? Boys in other parts of the world wear tights kind of like we might wear long underwear (which is a foreign concept to a NE TX child except when mom occasionally wears them) and often wear shorts over them?"

I went to our resource group and requested pics of cute boys in tights and we were set.

But, even better, I found where to order cute boys tights - cars and trucks - and ordered three pair for different stages - and he loves them. Thank you worldwide shopping optionson the internet and some enterprising retailer in Poland! Granted, they are not as exciting colors as the rainbow striped with purple polka dots are we found at GoodW but we have a variety of choices now and sadly the pink ones are now outgrown.

Oh and the tutu? H stll wears when he feels like though sadly the sparkly slip on tennis shoes lasted a week as he outgrew them that fast. This past weekend he and his friend played dress up and were alternately fairies, dinosaurs, ballerinas, and Optimus P. I might add it made the clothing choice for after swimming this week, too. Since we have to use the ladies locker room and the senior group swims after us we received a few amused and mother knowing looks as we went out the door. Of course dinosaur themed pj bottoms, a pink tutu, and old shirt with school logo all under mom's jacket - because he insisted he did not need his own even though it was in the 30's - made for quite the eclectic look.

Up next? A blue jay costume home made. Maybe I will get that done before he outgrows the pants and shirt.

P-r-e-t-z-e-l

Catching up on some H moments....

Had a "Gran" time on spring break. They played and read and drew and generally wore each other out - as it should be.

H has started to want to "nose" kiss. Not sure where it comes from but it's adorable and these days i will take adorable whenever I can.

It's amazing when there are just those moments when you glimpse a window into the not so distant future. There are times when I catch H in a picture and can look at it and see the boy he will be come. Gran and H picked me up from work one day during spring break. It was warm and they had been playing and swinging outside. I recently got out the shorts and Tshirts for the summer. When I got to the car H had on a size 5 Tshirt....he's dying to wear his fives....and I could just see "little" boy no more. For that brief moment he was in full size boy mode. Growing so fast this year.

Gran, if you go to Sam's H can have a p-r-e-t-z-e-l.
What? What Mommy? What can I get at Sam's?
Oh, nothing. Gran knows.
Yes! Yes! I want a pretzel. I like the cinnamon kind. They're my favorite.

M-a-r-c-h

March.

That's correct. We are in the month of March.

Is it summer yet? Can we go to summer before spring?

I want to go ice skating....

H-T-L-S spells Monster Truck. I love monster trucks.