A Plain Old Boring Shirt

I lay out Olivia’s clothes for the entire week every Sunday afternoon. This is a left over habit from when I was packing for myself and the girls each weekend when we had our nightmare commute.

It just really makes things easier to already have clothes laid out. No arguing, no thought, just grab the next outfit and make it work.

Except, this morning, I started to put a black and white striped shirt on Olivia and she groaned, “Why do I have to wear a plain old boring shirt?”

I thought this was a reasonable question so I said, “I guess you don’t. We can go pick out a different shirt if you want.”

She didn’t actually want. She wanted to sit in front of the space heater while I went and picked out a different shirt. Thank you very much, the end. Except not the end. As I left the bathroom, where she sat in her black pants in front of the space heater, she ordered, “Get me a shirt with a picture on it.”

Aye, aye, Captain!

As bratty as it sounds here, it was actually fairly amusing this morning. She’s just such a girlie girl, so very much all about being pretty and presentable.

I picked another black and white striped shirt, but this one had glittery red letters that spelled out, “Love to Shine.” She was thrilled with this pick and agreed to finish getting dressed.

There is one thing about Olivia that can be counted on and that’s the fact that she believes in the motto, “The fancier the better.”

And I love that about her. She notices everything fancy. I can count on her noticing if I wear earrings because, well, I rarely wear them so when I do, she’s the first to see them and mention how pretty they are. She’d wear lipstick every single day if we let her (we do not.)

Each morning she asks me how I’m doing to do her hair that day, hoping for some sparkle or fanciness to dress up her day.

I hope she never changes this about herself. I hope she always finds joy in glitter and rainbows.