Daddy Knows Best (Sometimes, lol)

The moment is inevitable. It arrives without warning and more often than we mothers would like to admit. After all, we know everything about our children and how to take care of them, right? We nurse them, we groom them, and we most certainly take on the task of coordinating their clothes.

But every once in awhile, SLAM!!! Daddy knows best.

My little Chica is quite the character at two years of age. Having spent the last year living in very tight living quarters with no AC, she got used to traipsing around in her diaper only. Every so often we can get her to keep a t-shirt on, but dare we slip a pair of shorts or pants on her, she will snatch them off and go about her play. Sure, we try dressing her again, but then it becomes a cycle repeated over and over. I choose my battles. I have way too much to do, to stop every 20 minutes to re-clothe the child.

The only time she stays dressed is when we go bye-bye. Well...except for the socks and shoes part. As soon as her bottom hits the car seat and I trek around to the driver's side and get in, plop-plop...there go the shoes. Shoes stay on the feet, ONLY when actively walking around outside (and sometimes, not even then).

So as fall has started to settle in, the weather has made a remarkable change. Remarkable to us especially, as having lived in California, cool weather shows up as late as mid-November or early December sometimes. It has been downright chilly around these parts for several weeks now.

Slowly, we've been trying to get Chica to keep her clothes on for longer periods of time without battling with her. I even purchased her a few pairs of tights, figuring that under her pants, they would substitute well for socks. Nana brought home snow boots for the munchkins yesterday. She picked out two sizes so we could get the right fit.

Between Nana, Tia Kiki and I, we could not get either pair on to the little girl's feet. Neither fit quite right and with the thickness of the boots, it was hard to tell what was going on inside. When I finally got them on her-or so I thought- she took a few steps and said "ouchey, ouchey", and immediately kicked them off. Papi stood by watching the scene but said nothing.

Finally ten minutes later, after we'd given up, he decided to give it a try. He took her over to the armchair, sat her in his lap and pushed her left foot down into the boot. Struggling, he removed it and then proceeded to shove his hand down inside. When he pulled his hand back out again, it was wrapped around a tight ball of tissue paper. UGH! I felt like such a dummy, but couldn't help laugh. The tissue was all the way at the tip of the toe so it couldn't be seen by simply looking down into the boot. Yet, it never occured to any of us women to stick our hands in and check for obstructions. Sure enough...when he checked the right boot, out came a matching ball of tissue.

Well, figuring Lil Miss would be quite frustrated still, I crossed my fingers and hoped she'd keep them on long enough so we could make sure she could walk in them. To our surprise...she kept those suckers on for two hours. She walked all around the house in them boots. Couldn't believe it. When Nana went to take her upstairs to the play area, she made the mistake of removing the boots, and Chica just about had a meltdown. On again, went the boots.

Thanks Daddy. You saved the day. And, you saved Nana an additional and unnecessary shopping trip for another pair of boots. We are ready for winter, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!