A budding fashionista

Getting dressed for me is always a chore; what's clean, what goes with what, what makes me look good, what covers my spare tire, what works with my bra...so many considerations and issues for such a basic need.

However, if you are my daughter Olivia, the sky is the limit in terms of clothing options; she LOVES clothes. Not just any clothes mind you, but girlie clothes. The more ruffles, polka dots, colors and embroidery, the more she loves it. And it MUST be a dress or a skirt. She refuses to wear pants, even on a cold, rainy day and insists on wearing tights most days, unless it is uncommonly hot. And if I let her have free reign over the combination of dress and tights or shirt, skirt and tights...wow...the vision she creates is quite spectacular. We have hearts, dots and flashy colors all competing to upstage one another; it's truly breathtaking.

Once dressed, it's time to accessorize, which Olivia also tackles with great flair. If it's not a day for ears (Minnie Mouse, kitty cat or Tigger), she'll choose either a regular headband or some fancy barrettes. Then it's onto the shoes...we go in spurts whether her favorite are black mary-janes, pink Ugg-style boots or fabulous princess shoes that are only for indoor play use but that she tries to wear most days. Her Disney princess shoes are a true favorite and have been for about a year now. The girl actually walks better in high heels than I do with all the practice she's had in them, and she used to try to put them on every little friend that came through our door, including the boys. She was quite generous in her sharing of the shoes. I used to refer to her as "little Imelda" for her Imelda Marcos-like shoe obsession.

She so enjoys getting dressed, that she changes outfits multiple times a day. One day she changed her skirt 6 times (between 4 different skirts). She changes them during naptime, reaching into the armoire for a new one. Or she'll grab one from a clean laundry basket sitting around waiting to be unloaded. I can't recall how many times I've entered her room after she's been put down for bed at night only to find her in one of her favorite tank tops and skirts, pj's thrown to the side as worthless rubbish. What fashion is there in pajamas, I mean really? Funny that I change my clothes every time I come home, getting into my yoga pants to get comfy, while her outfit changes are more likely into less comfortable clothing, like flouncy dresses, tight tank tops and high heels. Crazy girl.

So yesterday was a gorgeous 75-degree day in Ventura (February 3rd mind you) and we're getting ready to head out to Trader Joe's to fill the fridge. I take off my yoga pants (my home uniform it seems) and am grabbing my jean capris (yep, don't have to think twice- jeans) when Liv says, and I quote, "Mommy, please wear a skirt." As in, hey mom, why don't you switch things up a bit and try to dress cute for once? Recently she has taken to asking me if I'm wearing pants, even when she can clearly see I'm wearing pants. "You wearing pants mama?" and I always say, "yep, I'm wearing pants baby." We've even had discussions about the fact that mom likes to wear pants while Livy doesn't like pants, only dresses and skirts. It's pretty darn funny, and very cute. But it's starting to make me wonder if maybe I'm looking pretty ragged and mom-ish and my daughter's trying to drop the hint that I need to step things up a bit. Scary considering she's 3 and I'm going on 33...