Do You Have To?

If you haven't noticed, I complain about the clothes my children wear. But that's dumb. Because guess who buys their clothes? Yeah, me. In my defense we wear a lot -- and I do mean a lot -- of hand-me-downs, so not all of the clothes they wear are purchased by me. But I can say that almost all the clothes they wear are picked by them.


Every morning it's the ritual of fighting about taking off the beloved PJs that have Batman, or Superman, or Incredibles, or something on them. Usually the only thing that entices them out of PJs is an article of clothing that has Cars, or Batman, or Superman, or Spiderman on it.


You may be thinking this only applies to Cooper, but OH NO. Mason has an opinion about his clothes, too. In fact, I would say his opinion is more difficult to sway because he doesn't listen to reason like, "Ewwww, you can't wear that again it smells like urine." Cooper understands this logic and will sometimes permit me to slip in a t-shirt from JCREW. Mason does not.


You may also be thinking that this only applies to clothes you can see. Nope. Underwear, diapers, socks, backpacks, lunchboxes, hats, scarves, toothbrushes, plates, water bottles, and even coats need a little MARVEL. I'm drawing the line with shoes because the last pair of shoes I let Cooper pick out (at the store) were Spiderman Sandals. They were categorically the worst shoes I have ever paid money for and they smell like dried vomit. I'm hoping he grows like crazy this winter so I can throw them away. I might throw them away anyway.

And let's not forget their acute ability to throw things together and accessorize. Batman's utility belt with street clothes. Bug wellies, with every thing, every day, everywhere. Too small dump truck turtleneck in the middle of summer. Need I say more?