My Little Clothes Horse

Can I whine? Just a little?

I really shouldn't. Some kids come home from international adoption with serious issues. Obsessions even. Food is one that comes to mind. Some children hoard food, can't stop eating when they're full, or pouch food in their cheeks for hours at a time. Obsessive behaviors like that can be quite serious.

This is not. But it is still making me slightly crazy.

My dear 3-year-old is obsessed with CLOTHES!

Upon arriving home from China, we noted the same phrase being repeated every morning. It sounded something like "Wo yao Chinese food." We're slow, but we eventually figured out that it meant, "I must get dressed right this minute. Not in five minutes. RIGHT NOW!" We quickly learned that it was NOT okay to eat breakfast and THEN get dressed. Getting dressed was #1 on the priority list...and it was only marginally okay to stop and go potty first.

But what we didn't realize was that it was unacceptable to only wear one set of clothing each day. It didn't take long to understand that 3-year-olds (at least this one!) need to change every few hours. It's not unusual to hear him ask for different clothes after breakfast, mid-morning, around lunchtime, before nap, after nap, and perhaps once more before bed...and if not then, at least one change in the choice of pajamas.

Very early on, he learned vocabulary to help us out. After only about two months home, he tugged on my tanktop and said, "Wo yao shirt like this." Again yesterday he was asking to change into a tanktop...right after breakfast...the second set of clothes for the day. I carried him to his clothing drawer and held up one tank top. He shook his head, "No dis." Tank top #2. No. Tank top #3. No. Tank top #4. No. And on through tank tops #5, #6, #7. No, no, no. I shrugged. All out of tank tops. So I went back to the first one. He grins. Oh yes, that's the one. So I helped him out of his first set of clothes and into his chosen tank top. He looks at himself in the mirror. Frowns. Shakes his head. Doesn't like this one now. So I take tank tops #2-#7 out of the drawer, lay them on the floor, and let him dig through them. He finally carries one out to me in the kitchen, grinning.

But it doesn't end there. (Didn't think ya'd get off that easy, did ya?) Cause today was what rocketed me into the "I have a right to complain" category.

GG doesn't have a lot of clothes. We'd given away most of 'LilDude's small clothes. And GG didn't have a "baby shower." So his closet is pretty thin...made up of a few borrowed items, a few of 'LilDude's things that we'd inadvertently missed giving away, and a couple things we'd bought. His "winter clothing" was almost nonexistent, so I was thrilled to strike it big at a garage sale today, picking up almost an entire name-brand wardrobe for less than $15.

I should have known better.

[Start the "Jaws" do-do-do-do music.]

So I buy the clothes. Put them in the car. With GG. Who immediately starts saying, "Mommy, clothes!" For those who don't understand, the translation is, "Mommy, I want to put on all the new clothes RIGHT NOW."

Now, understand that the tone isn't demanding. It's sad. Pitiful really. Like, "If I don't put on the clothes right now, my little heart will bust into a few million pieces."

This continued through a four-hour shopping excursion. And became particularly intense in the last 30 minute drive home where the unceasing cry from the backseat was, "Momma? Momma? Momma?"

"I can't look at you right now honey. Mommy has to watch the other cars. So she doesn't crash."

"Momma? Momma? Momma?"

"What honey?"

"Momma? Clothes."

"We'll take the clothes home and wash them."

"Momma? Momma? Momma?"

"What honey?"

"Momma? Clothes."

"We have to wash them at home."

Now repeat this about 4,000 times: "Momma? Momma? Momma? Momma? Clothes." Until he finally nods off to sleep about 5 minutes from home.

And just in case you're wondering, I asked the foster family about his desire to change clothes all the time. His auntie wrote, "His niece/friend like fashion shows at home, [she] came back from kindergarten every day, it is necessary to put several sets of beautiful skirt, GG see changed naturally follow."

So there you have it.

I'm very thankful that we do not have serious obsessions. But this non-serious obsession is making me a little crazy.

Maybe he'll be a fashion designer when he grows up? A clothes buyer?

My "Little Clothes Horse."

P.S. Lizzi and dh just read this and want to verify that everything I said is TOTALLY TRUE. Dh's exact words were, "Oh, I know! He's totally obsessed!"

P.P.S. We did have a one day reprieve from constant clothes changing. That was the day I brought home a new swim trunk/shirt set from Costco. He wore them all day. And was very unhappy to change into jammies that night. The fact that we have no pool was totally irrelevant.