Then she was able to let us know (through minor tantrums and stripping) that she no longer preferred denim, and only wanted to wear pants made of stretchy material (sweatpants/shorts & leggings). Not such a big deal, right? It's ok that we had to go out and get new clothes, right? Pay no mind to the box of Annie's hand-me-down jeans and the ones I purchased ahead of time on a great sale.
Currently we are onto the whole "I want to wear dresses!" phase of things. They can't be just any dress either. They either have to be pink and sparkly, like this (that's Annie at the Father-Daughter ball):
Or a dressy sundress (Laurie wore this to a birthday tea party she had been invited to):
She wore that pink and green dress to school one day. Her teacher called me to let me know that, "there may have been a photo shoot." (Side note: her teacher is awesome.)
As a child, I was not particularly a girly girl, and neither was Annie (though she did go through a short, but fierce, Disney Princess phase), so this is kind of new for me. And because of this, Annie only had two or three dresses to pass on to Laurie...my mom made a couple of cute dresses as well. I'm hoping that one day she'll allow us to brush her hair without the use of brute force (John holds her down and Annie holds her hands while I brush her hair...it's the traumatizing game the whole family can play)...it would add so much to her ensemble!
The interesting thing about Laurie is that if she dribbles strawberry or watermelon juice on her clothes, she'll continue to wear them. But don't even THINK about letting one single drop of water spill on her clothing. If that happens, it will take her approximately 1.5 seconds until she's stripped down to nothing. Thankfully this has not happened in public...so far. I have her diaper bag stuffed with changes of clothes, just in case. It's not a matter of if...it's just a matter of when.
One thing I'm happy to say about Laurie is that although she has her certain likes and dislikes, we very rarely have drama from her. Maybe that's because she can't really talk yet. Maybe it's the autism. Maybe it's just her personality. Whatever. I'm just thankful we'll likely escape the teenage angst. Seems to be a perk of her flavor of autism. And I'll take it where I can!
You are so lucky that she doesn't throw terrible tantrums like many autistic children do ~ however, we are lucky that we do not have an eloper! I looked at the Courtney Bed ~ what a great idea! Right now, I keep a tension gate across the hallway. If he knocks it down or shakes it, it wakes me up right away. I don't want him roaming the house alone. Also, we do have an alarm system if he opens a door.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying she doesn't tantrum at all...they're just usually pretty short-lived, and she's usually pretty easy to redirect. We've figured out that they usually happen when she can't properly communicate her wants/needs...not that just telling her "no" won't spark a meltdown as well! She is 6, after all ;)
DeleteI love your writing....and your sense of humor!! I laughed out loud with the "it's the traumatizing game the whole family can play" line especially. And the question of whether I wear my princess best to Lowes...that got me too. Great article, Cathy! You deserve a sparkly crown for all you do as mother of the diva. :-)
ReplyDelete