Playing Dress Up

We found out we were having a boy back in July and were instantly thrilled. More thrilled that the baby growing inside me was healthy, but now we could call it a "he" and that made things so much more real. Along with thinking about names, we started to imagine the activities he'd like to do or toys he'd like to play with. Frisbee, of course, but maybe soccer, too. Lego's for sure, but maybe cardboard forts, too. Hopefully he'd be into music or maybe drawing...what fun it will be as his interests develop and change over the years!

Despite my childhood tomboy persona, I still enjoyed playing with My Little Ponies and carried my favorite Cabbage Patch around with me most everywhere. One Halloween, I cut up a garbage bag to make a matching witch costume so she could come with me trick or treating! Dressing up--either yourself or your dolls--seems like a childhood rite of passage for girls. I wonder if our little offspring would miss out on that altogether being a boy...maybe that's why I have enjoyed getting him dressed everyday (multiple times a day, in fact). He's much squirmier than a doll, but much more adorable. I suspect I will have fun dressing him up until he is old enough to make wardrobe decisions of his own.

I already have nicknames for many of his everyday outfits (monkey suit, frogger, party PJs) and it is fun to come up with new ones. Here's Fin in his long-sleeved white onesie that inspired the nickname Obi Wan Kenobi (from Star Wars), I think it is the criss-cross neckline. Looking online for a suitable picture to accompany this image made me realize that Obi Wan's actual outfit is a bit different than I remembered...but now it's too late, Finley's "Obi Wan" look is here to stay.

Finley's Grandpa Murray contributed to my love of dressing up our boy by bringing an adorable Giants outfit up from New York last week. It was a boxed set that came with a onesie, a hat and little fuzzy socks. The hat was marked newborn, but was sadly quite large. Perhaps the tag meant "newborn elephant". The onesie was slightly too big, but worked well layered over his Obi Wan long-sleeved top. The best part of the look was the adorable socks! We'd never put socks on Finley so it was a first...which also meant he'd need to wear his first pair of pants. Darn, we didn't have any newborn sized pants. I grabbed some 0-3 handmedown pants and while they were big, by rolling them at the top they worked just fine! The picture doesn't show it, but there is a firetruck on the rear end of the pants--baby clothing designers are so witty!

Who says dress-up is only for girls?

Much to our dismay, Finley's outfit didn't make it to the 8:30 kick off Sunday night. Around 4:30, he tested the maximum liquid capacity of his diaper...and we all lost that challenge. Note to self--specialty outfits should be put on no more than 20 minutes before intended event occurs.