One of those days...

Everyone says that part of being a parent is learning to pick your battles. Honestly, I think that picking your battles is part of any relationship, though the power dynamic of parent-child certainly makes it different. I think kids know this instinctively. The battles that Katie seems to pick have to do with 3 main things: 1. Her clothes; 2. going out of the house; 3. creams, lotions, or lip balm. Yesterday it was the first 2. We had a playdate in Kevin's playroom and she didn't want to go. Sometimes when she doesn't want to go somewhere, I offer to take the bus and that works. No luck yesterday. Sometimes I try "special treats" - again no luck (and that's usually reserved for dog walking anyway). So how did we finally get out of the house? Katie wore her pajama bottoms. I figured that she might be embarassed by being seen in her pjs and maybe a small dose of public humiliation might help the cause. Not the case at this age. I think she was proud of being in pjs. And honestly she looked quite cute and festive in her pink snowperson pants.

I asked a few other moms what they would do and the general consensus was as long as they are dressed in seasonally appropriate clothing, it's fine. I can go with that for now. Coats are another daily battle - it combines 2 battles after all, clothes and leaving the house. Katie likes to wear her coat backwards and I've learned that if she's cold, she'll put a coat on and I'm beginning to leave it at that. I told this to a grandma in our building and her response was "good for you." My concern is that I'm not setting the expectation that you wear clothes properly so she won't. But at the same time, I've been accused of having too high expectations for Katie so maybe the laissez-faire route is the way to go.