Fashion Forward

Clara's been learning to dress herself. These pictures, taken in June (yeah, I'm only a month behind), show only a part of the wardrobe transformations she effected in one short afternoon. Above, she's shed her shorts (probably at least the second normal outfit of the day) for some Halloween pants (size 12 months, found in her sister's room).

And now she's completed the look by putting on a shirtdress, backwards.

She's getting pretty good at dressing herself, thankfully. Because she usually won't accept help. Any offer of assistance is met with screams. Ditto to any suggestions that her clothes might not match, are backwards and/or inside out.

She's also really into shoes. She loves her own, of course, but also the bin of baby shoes in Alice's closet. She'll ask Nathan to get it down, and then happily try on pair after pair, not at all discouraged that they don't fit. "These are too big," she'll say, then agree when I suggest maybe they're too small. Small and big, so hard to keep them straight.

Yesterday, after watching my cousin's little girl do the same, she put on a small pair of wooden clogs sitting on my grandma's lamp table. Luckily my grandma didn't care, because I think this may become a tradition for all girls of a certain size.

Tonight, asked to get some pajamas on, she came out of her room so proud of her "crazy jammies": shorts and a shirt dress, again inside out. As long as she thinks it's comfortable, I'm not saying anything. I don't fancy a fight tonight.