Tarzan

Sam is a tiny bit strong willed.  Okay, tiny bit is a understatement.  Strong willed may even be an understatement.  Sam ranks high in the  stubborn, obstinate, willful, headstrong , unbending, unyielding children I've ever known.  (And since I teach 43 preschoolers every week, that says a lot!)  I tell myself regularly that his determination will make him an amazing adult some day.  However, that means he, and I, have to survive his childhood first!

The other morning it was time to get dressed for preschool.  If I thought getting (& keeping) Sam dressed in the summer was challenging, I was sadly mistaken.  The weather was a chilly and shorts were out of the question.  I gave Sam a choice in long sleeve shirts to slip on and he rebuked them all the 1st time through.  He finally settled on a shirt the third time through the stack (with a good deal of coaxing.)  Next came pants...

"I HATE jeans!  I do not snaps!" Okay, fine.  I can live an alternative to jeans.  "Do you want this pair of this pair?"  I asked holding up 2 pairs of elastic waisted pants.

"I don't want pants.  Tarzan doesn't wear pants."  Tarzan lives in the jungle.  Tarzan doesn't go to school.  Tarzan doesn't have a mom.

"Sam, today is a school day.  You can't go to school in your underwear.  You have to put on pants."

"But I'm Tarzan!"

"How about this pair?"

"Tarzan doesn't wear those."

"Let's try these on.  You have to wear pants for school."  I managed to get a pair of pants on him.
He managed to rip them off.

"I can't wear these, kids will laugh at me!"

Cause 3 year olds always laugh at the kid who comes to school in pants.

"These feel funny.  They touch my socks.  I don't like pants that touch my socks."

Um, okay.  That's a new one.

Back and forth we went.  Pants on, pants off.  Pants on, pants off.  This could be a really good exercise for a Karate Kid in training.  Sam would agree to a pair and then find fault with whichever pair.

"I want pajama pants," Sam declared.

Hey, if the pants fit!  (and the underwear are covered....)  I had my own chuckle seeing as he had been concerned about the children laughing at him in pair of grey sweat pant type pants, but whatever.

Sam choose a pair of dark and light blue striped pajama pants.  He settled in to watch a cartoon for a few minutes while I finished a few other things before we headed out the door.  When I told Sam it was time for shoes, he stood up and took the pants off. 

"Sam!  What are you doing?  We need to go to school and you have to wear pants."

"I'm not wearing those!"

Sigh.  Here we go again.

6 pairs of pants later, the promise that he could be Tarzan after school at daycare, my threatening to leave without him and getting in the car to prove it, Sam was ready to go.  His pants were at least an inch to short and way to wide in the waist, but he was dressed.