Fashion schmashion

On Wednesday, one day after I realized that Owen had completely outgrown his old tennis shoes, I took Owen on a rare non-grocery store shopping trip and we bought these slightly brighter, slightly bigger shoes on the right to replace their worn-out twins on the left. It wasn’t that I planned to buy poor Owen, who only owns one pair of tennis shoes at a time, the exact same pair of shoes. But he was really excited to see his own shoes on the shelf and they happened to fit him best.

In general though, I’m glad to have a couple boys who at least for now, are willing to put up with the wardrobes I create for them with my occasional consignment store shopping – with the rare shoe store trip thrown in since I figure it’s best for their feet not to wear used shoes. I never find time to shop, and I don’t have to worry about lots of sparkly pink and purple flip-flops and polka-dotted hair bows with matching socks that all you moms of girls seem to keep a handle on so well. My boys generally have one pair of tennis shoes, one pair of sandals, and one pair of dress shoes at a time, and they never think to complain. And they have drawers full of second-hand pants and shirts, which I let them coordinate to their liking. This is why Owen can often be seen in his fading Cat-in-the-Hat shirt with shorts that may or may not match well. Occasionally I try to coach against a truly horrendous outfit combo, but most of the time my 2-year-old gets to dress himself.

And I like it that way. One less power struggle for all of us to endure. And you can’t quite say his mother dresses him funny. Or maybe you can.