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I hope I'm not *always* mirthless and paranoid. Why?! Do I *seem* to be always mirthless and paranoid? What have you heard?!

<tee-hee-hee>

My DS4 has clothing sensitivities too. We've had to cut out all tags, and he will wear only all cotton long sleeves and long pants, even in summer. (He did allow one exception - if we're by the ocean he'll wear shorts. Did I mention we live in MN?) Writing this, i'm suddenly reminded of my own all-cotton preference, which also transferred to my Barbies when i was little. Barbie would only wear GI Joe's clothes, because they were cotton!

And if he had a choice, my son would never change his clothes and never take a bath! So allowing him to dress himself would result in pjs, every day.

I started writing my previous note and got distracted and flitted off, so i missed the in betweens. Kriston, i didn't take any offense at your comments.

Mornings are so hard at our house too! And I have to admit that very quickly into this school year (kindergarten) I gave in to dressing my DD. She just turned 6 a few weeks ago. She's literally been dressing herself since she was 2 but she's NOT an early morning person. Her natural wake time is closer to 7:30, and we have to wake her up every morning by 7:00. Because my younger two are usually still asleep, and also because I try to be quiet so that I don't wake up my DD3.5 who shares a room with DD6, I literally carry her in to the bathroom, put her on the potty, then dress her--all while her eyes are usually still closed. After that time she usually walks on her own into the kitchen and eats her breakfast. After 10 minutes she's perked up and ready to go to school. This is the only time that I dress her for anything and I never did for preschool (I don't even dress my DD3.5). But we didn't have to be at preschool until 9:30, and leaving the house by 7:30 is a lot harder for her to do.

I certainly don't plan on dressing her like this forever. For now, though, it's the best way to let her get sleep in the mornings but still get out the door on time without making such a scene that we wake up her younger siblings. Perhaps it's not the best approach in terms of fostering independence in the morning, but overall it's the best solution for us. Besides, I'm not a morning person, and there are some mornings when I would love it if someone would help me get dressed.

Apropos of nothing except the topic, which made me think of this -

My DH once picked up a parenting book reviewed in the NY Times. It was a rerelease and I think it was called Between Parent and Child. The opening anecdote really hit home with me and I think of it often. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something along the lines of why do we talk to/treat our children differently than we treat our friends/other adults? And the example was what would you do if your best friend came over to your house to visit and forgot his or her umbrella? Would you call up and say "You never can remember anything! What is wrong with you? You'd probably forget your head if it wasn't attached, wouldn't you?!!" I agree with the premise, and I try to remember it when desperately trying to get DS from point A to point B...

Great point questions.

LOL Dottie!!!!! You're right!!!! :-)

But it definitely is something worth remembering in times of stress!

Frankly, I can't remember ever having yelled at a friend. Ever. I haven't been following all those enjit intiials, but it must make me very, very weird or uptight or something.

I always say I'll drive them there, but they're going to have to pay the ER co-pay!!!!

I've never yelled at a friend as an adult. But I may have once or twice when I was MUCH younger!!! LOL!!!!!!

OH, Dottie, I love those! A trip down memory lane.