Monaloca

A work friend of mine recently commented on the crazy kindergarten girl fashion she’s seen at her son’s school. This led to me detailing Melina’s past week of self-chosen outfits, and then starting to chronicle the really fun ones in pictures. Lots of layers (pants under skirts, long shirts under sundresses) with tangentially matched patterns (hearts with stars, stripes with polka dots) and textures (somewhere M acquired a faux-fur leopard skirt, for one) are all the rage with the “I now dress myself” set.

For Melina, the late 2s and early 3s were all about pink. The late 3s were a hard time to get her dressed in anything not jammies. (My “day jammies” argument for leggings never worked.) At age 4 I am thrilled to report she indeed dresses herself every morning, and many mornings without a fuss. Having her pick outfits the night before helps. Reminding her that I also pick my outfits the night before (no lie) doubly helps. Following the fashion sense of her friends is definitely part of the equation. I don’t think I started on this until sometime in grade school.

What’s more, Nalani has suddenly started showing preferences, and she’s barely 18 months. One recent morning she went through three outfit changes and they weren’t because she made a mess. She refused the dress I picked out (granted it was corduroy, perhaps not comfy enough?) and was fine with outfit #2… until she noticed one of the matching dresses she has with Melina. She brought it to Joey, who caved and changed her.

Nalani also picked out her second pair of shoes back in September. We had just had her feet measured when I turned to Joey to ask what style we might get. “Don’t ask me,” he said. “She’s already picked for herself.” And there she was, holding a pair of purple toddler sneakers, saying “dat.”

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