so hip it hurts

It is cracking me up watching my kids start to make their own fashion choices.  The each have some very fixed ideas about how they want to dress each day.   Even Karis, at two, is celebrating her creativity with her clothing.  The other night we were going to dinner, and this was the outfit she came out of her room wearing. I think it was about 60 degrees out this night, but she insisted on wearing a tank top, clashing neon socks, and flip-flops.  As amused as I was with her under-wear-over-the-pants look, I did draw the line at leaving the house that way.  She’s just so excited about her potty-training efforts . . . I think she feels it an injustice that those hard-earned big-girl panties are hidden away from view. (Also, there is a small part of me that thinks this outfit could actually make it onto one of those hideous American Apparel billboards.  Right?) One unfortunate by-product of Karis’s interest in clothing is that there are frequent costume changes, usually following a period of mania wherein she empties EVERY SINGLE DRAWER in search of some accessory or another.  This part is really, really fun for me. Several times a day, she also decides that her clothes are weighing her down, and just wears her diaper around the house, with a few key accessories.  Also really fun for me . . . especially since it usually happens just as we’re trying to leave the house. Here she is after totally stealing another little girl’s boots and sunglasses at the park.  She just helped herself to someone else’s belongings, and then walked around all nonchalant.  This is her “WHAT?” face. The girls in their typical Target-run attire. In other news, India has conceded to wearing jeans on occasion, for the first time in three years.  Only if they are stretchy, and skinny, and NOT navy.  But still!  Progress.  She’s also a fan of the accessories. Lest you think the girls are the only fashion hounds, Jafta has also taken an interest in his clothing this year.   He was given a pair of hand-me-down purple skinny jeans by a family friend, and he thinks these are the coolest pants ever (which was only further confirmed when he got compliments from some of our hipper, younger friends).  The problem is, he was teased when he wore them to school.  After he came home that day, I had a little chat with them about “I don’t think they’re ready for this jellly” and whatnot (okay, I may have called his classmates closed-minded and immature).  Since then, he refuses to wear them to school but changes into them as soon as he gets home.  The outfit above is what he chose to wear to the theater last month.  I think the patterns are a bit much . . . but A+ for effort. And then there’s Kembe – he’s pretty content wearing his school uniform every day. but he does managed to add his own little flair. (Glasses and photo courtesy of Connor Shambrook, Jafta’s piano teacher and apparent style mentor).