Brown Pants

For the past few months I've been entertained by Zoe's increasing opinions.  One of her favorite games is when she insists, "I'm a boy!"  After having 2 sons, it's been rather fun to put cute dresses and pigtails on my sweet and cherubic daughter.  Dresses are also great because only ONE item of clothing needs to be changed after a messy meal or washed at the end of the day (well, and underpants). But as I pull a dress from the closet Zoe declares, "I don't want to wear a dress!  I'm a boy!  I want to wear brown pants!"

My game is usually to find a way to convince her to wear what I think would be absolutely charming, without spoiling her fun.  For example, "Yes, but this is a BOY-dress, so you can wear it today." To which she'll happily concede (sometimes).  Since she has two pairs of brown corduroy pants, she sometimes gets away with wearing them several times in one week, so I don't feel bad demanding a few dress days in the mix.  

In the brown-pants photo above, you can also see Zoe's preferred hairstyle - only one hairband, ponytail-style.  She really gave me a scare one day when she let me know, "I want to have my hair cut short.  Like Guy's."  My ploy was an exclusive invitation to the long-hair club.  "See, Zoe, I have long hair in a pony tail, and YOU have a pony tail, and WE can be matching with long pony tails! Just you and me!"   Yes, the only thing more enticing than emulating a brother would be to achieve "matching".  One day Zoe had the same dress on as another girl at the athletic club, and it was all she talked about for the whole day.  "We match!"  "Hey, look!  We're matching"

On Sundays the children all relent and wears the clothes and hairstyles I choose.  In the photo you can see Zoe in a dress with... BRAIDS!  She fussed the whole time, so it's good that I'm pretty quick at the 'do.  Nevertheless, as we went up to the church building, Zoe also let me know, "I want to wear boy pants and a boy shirt to church, like Xander and Guy do."

On alternate days, Zoe's personality will flip and she decides that she loves to look pretty.  She'll dance and skip about, twirling and showing off her flowy dress.  (Or get it caught in the greasy bearings of the barstool when we're late for church.)  And when evening comes, her big pleasure is choosing which pair of pajamas to wear.  "Zoe, if you go upstairs RIGHT NOW, you can choose which pajamas to wear."  Her favorite pajamas of late, shown in the photo, are affectionately referred to as "the snap suit."