Dress for Success

My baby is growing up! In just the last little bit, he's started to dress himself, and it is such a big help! Before, he would roll out of bed and immediately want to be dressed. It didn't matter if I was still sleeping, busy exercising or making breakfast for the boys, I would have to stop and go help him get dressed. In the evenings we would send one of the older boys to help get his jammies on, and then one day, he did it all on his own. I then encouraged him to dress himself in the morning and he did great! Sometimes things get put on backwards or inside out, but it's all good. He still needs a little help, as he told me this morning "I can do it all but the zip and clip" (referring to his pants). Socks were a challenge (often he'd just put his shoes on without socks ... I was a bit frustrated the time we went bowling and I hadn't noticed he didn't have socks on!) but he's now mastered them too!

At first, I would try to lay Colton's clothes out for him. It encouraged him to go ahead and try dressing himself, and often my judgement was needed to match the weather conditions for the day (no shorts when it's snowing please). Generally, matching clothes isn't that big of a problem for little boys, as jeans go with pretty much anything. When the warmer weather rolled around however, Colton pulled out some interesting combinations of plaid shorts and patterned shirts. I tried to show him that there were various colors in the shorts, and if possible, we should get a shirt of a matching color (preferably one without a pattern). He's actually done pretty well making matches. This morning, I laid some clothes out (May 24th ... it's SNOWING outside). I put some jeans and a long sleeved red shirt. Colton put them on but commented that they were "wrong". When I asked him what he meant he said "the pants are blue and the shirt is red, they don't match!".

As Colton has started to get dressed himself, he's also become quite modest man. He always wants the door closed as he changes clothes and gets upset if anyone walks in on him in his underwear. He seems oblivious to the fact that more often than not, the blinds on the window are open, so anyone walking by outside would have a clear view. And of course, this is the same child who makes a mad dash from his room across the hallway to the bathroom totally naked!