Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The Princess Dress

When Tom’s Mom was here she bought Natalie a Snow White dress.

The thing is, for four days, Natalie refused to take it off.



Oh sure, she’d allow me to put regular clothes on first. But then she’d be all, “Princess dress.”



“Darling, how about we just give the Princess dress a rest?” I said hopefully on day three.

“PRINCESS DRESS! PRINCESS DRESS!”

“Jesus! Alright!”

She would wear it all day.

Even when she ate.

Even when she went to bed. I mean, didn’t it make her itch? It looks like it would make her itch. But I guess she didn’t care.

She did let me take it off so she could bathe at least. But the dress HAD to be slung over the toilet. If it’s wasn’t, Natalie flipped out.



On day four, I was trying to figure out how I could wash the thing.

Because the dress had begun to emit a smell. It desperately needed to be cleaned. But how?

I even told her honestly that she was starting to stink.

“So I think it would be a good idea to wash the dress? How about we take it off?”

“PRINCESS DRESS! PRINCESS DRESS! PRINCESS DRESS!”

“Tom! A little help here!” I shouted. He was on the computer playing his beloved Call of Duty game. How he tunes all the noise out is beyond me.

“What?” Tom was genuinely surprised.

“Natalie’s dress is starting to smell and she won’t take it off!” I explained.

“She doesn’t smell!” Tom retorted. “Just let her keep it on. All kids go through stuff like this.”

Then he went back to his game.

Gee thanks for nothing, oh wise one.

And of course he wouldn’t think she smells. This is a man who comes home from work with feet that reek from being in boots for hours and seems surprised when I beg him to take a shower so we don’t all keel over from the draft.

“How about we put on another dress?” I tried a different tactic with Natalie.

“PRINCESS DRESS!”

Then she added her Princess boots to the ensemble.



I took Natalie out to Target in her Princess dress. People thought it was cute. But only because they didn’t get close enough to smell her.

“What’s her name?” the cashier asked.

“Natalie,” I replied.

“SNOW WHITE!” Natalie cut in. “Mommy, I Snow White.”

Okay then. Snow White.

I began to think that she’d never take the dress off.

But then this morning she suddenly stepped out of it.

“All done,” she said, handing it to me.

“All…done?” I said this cautiously, worried that she’d turn into a rabid child and beg me to give her back the dress.

“All done,” Natalie repeated.

I backed away with the dress slowly. I kept expecting her to chase after me and try and bite my ankles.

But no. She just calmly started to play with her blocks.

Of course now her latest obsession seems to be not wanting to wear pants. She’s currently sitting in the living room clad in a shirt and her diaper. Her pants have been tossed into the corner of the room. “All done, pants,” Natalie told me seriously.

I think I’d like the smelly dress phase back…

50 comments:

  1. Do you know how many things I would like to say All Done too. The life of a child is beautiful!

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  2. Even princess dresses become old, I guess!

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  3. She looks cute in it, even if she did smell;) We have several that get cycled through by Mamacita. It's worse when potty training & trying to convince a child that a Princess dress is not the ideal outfit for that event.

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  4. Is it wrong that I am relieved my daughter is only 7 months old and I don't have to go through this yet? Although thanks for telling me what I have to look forward to! :-)

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  5. Whatever makes them happy..I am so used to two little tomboys who are demand dressed all the time.

    It used to bother me but now I can go anywhere without being emarrassed about their mismatched outfits and the fact that they are wearing furry boots in the middle of a heatwave.

    I can honestly say that they won't go to high school wearing a Superman Suit complete with cape or Batman Mask...well at least I hope not.

    If they do, well if they have the confidence to pull it off and be original and true to who they are...good for them.

    Said she, who sometimes still wears pigtails in her hair at aged 38!

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  6. Wow, no wonder she wouldn't take it off, that is one SERIOUS princess dress!

    Ugh, and double UGH for Call of Duty!!!!!!

    Does he play online? I can't help but wonder how many people I kinda know that play with or against my husband? I mean, it seems like every male on the planet is obsessed right now!

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  7. Lucky for you the obsession was so quick. :) Although she's adorable in the dress. One of my boys has been obsessed with Spiderman for over a year.

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  8. Little kids really like to be naked, don't they?

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  9. I was going to suggest another princess dress and maybe she would switch out of the snow white one, but it looks like you don't need any advice here now! :)

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  10. I was going to suggest another princess dress and maybe she would switch out of the snow white one, but it looks like you don't need any advice here now! :)

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  11. I cant blame her...that dress is cute..Id sit around and stink in it a few days too

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  12. Who wouldn't want to be a princess for a few days? Now the no pants thing could be a problem...

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  13. I love Natalie! She's so determined. . . and cute! You just have to bend to her every whim!

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  14. :)

    ALL DONE!!!

    I gave ya an award today!

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  15. That's too funny! She's so adorable, even if she was starting to be smelly! I have to say that I'm soooo happy that my girls are FINALLY out of the dress up stage though..I've had enough!

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  16. Great story. My granddaughter currently wears only shirts with Elmo on them. And I agree with blueviolet... I wanna say "All Done" to lots o' stuff.

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  17. My youngest was Dorothy for - oh, man, for a long time. We had three Dorothy dresses. I made sure her preschool teachers knew that so they didn't think she was wearing the same dress every day.

    I think I'd like to be all done with cooking and cleaning. And maybe pants. I'm considering pants....

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  18. Natalie sounds so much like Colin. When he got his skeleton costume for Halloween, he insisted upon wearing it for DAYS in advance. I really got my 14 bucks' worth of good out of it, I guess.

    And of course, you know he's ALWAYS been "all done" with pants. Ugh.

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  19. i don't think you're going to get away with taking her to target without pants though

    and btw target should be paying you for all the advertising you give them

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  20. I'm "all done" with this laundry crap.


    How long will this last, I wonder?

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  21. Oh how I can relate to this! My 3 1/2 year old wants to wear her "butterfly wings" from Halloween all the time. I just put them on her until she gets tired of carrying them around on her back.

    Not wearing pants? Don't get me started, this has been a battle with her since she was two!!!

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  22. At least the dress is off...

    Wash it quick while you can.

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  23. ha ha ha!! She's so cute in her princess dress! Especially with the boots and the really funky collar that can't decide whether to stand up or fold down! lol! Gotta love the no pants stage, too. And just when we're going into winter... good luck with that!

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  24. At least she put real clothes underneath the dress (which is very cute, BTW). I guess Tommy never did this to you? :)

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  25. Oh Gosh...this cracked me up . I love the boots. Yes...this too will pass.

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  26. Try some princess pants? Target might even have them.

    I love the boots with the dress..classic.

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  27. Oh my gosh that is so wierd how kids will only do things on their OWN terms or not at all!

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  28. Natalie is my new lifestyle guru. Boring paperwork. All done. Only my fashion obsession is my fleecy pajamas. I don't plan on "being done" with them for quite some time.

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  29. That is so funny! Our kids phases keep getting more and more bizzare:-)

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  30. So funny! She just had to finish in her own time.

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  31. How adorable! Well, I know you didn't feel like it was adorable while you were going through these days of dress-removal refusal... but kids and their sense of fashion never ceases to amuse me!!

    -Jen

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  32. That's the lesson: Be careful what you wish for! She's a riot!

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  33. I'll tell ya, that little Natalie sure is a stitch! "All done!" Just like that! She'll probably change her mind back in a day or two! LOL!

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  34. How cute is she though? My son bought a costume for a friend once and his mom told me he wore it every day for 2 weeks. You got off lucky!

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  35. She'll eventually start wearing pants again. At least you hope...

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  36. I'm betting she could smell herself ;)

    Pantless is a little harder when going to Target. Good luck.

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  37. Oh just wait - tonight we got "can I wear THAT outfit to bed?" huh? What outfit? Chaos - the answer is no and then we hear "I will wear whatever I want". She's five. Dear Lord save us all.

    She wore a Cinderella nightgown, BTW. She can TRY to be a prima donna all she wants but there's no back talk around here. For now. Cuz we're bigger :)

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  38. This story reminds me of a particularly trying time in Miss D's youth, where she wore a Superman t-shirt and a tutu...for several months.

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  39. John's 40 and still tries the ALL DONE PANTS routine!!

    Hallie :)

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  40. Aww...how adorable is she? Shove her in the thing!!
    Oh, and finally found you on Twitter! I never knew you had an account!

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  41. Too cute!!! Reminds me of Daddy Daycare. If it had gone on much longer, I'd suggested a back-up princess dress and rotating them. Cause I'm an enabler of little kid cuteness. My little girl goes sans clothes daily. :S I wanna get her into some clothes.

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  42. Totally encourage that sense of fashion independence. It will serve her well in high school! And you won't be forced to buy the trendy (read expensive) clothes. Who doesn't love a fashion maverick?

    ♥Spot

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  43. oh the boots.. the boots just made me laugh so hard!!

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  44. LOL What a cute story!! Mollee did that with a black tam hat when she was little. I made the hat for her and she would never take it off no matter what she had on. lol

    Glad she's "done". lol

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  45. Me and your daughter have a lot in common. I often wander around my flat in a princess dress.

    And I don’t wear pants either.

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  46. Gabe wore his Batman costume everywhere for about a year. Stinky. But funny!

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