Monday, January 24, 2011

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth...

So you know those blogs that seem to paint this perfect little life with perfect little kids and a mom who can barely function because she just adores her children so much??? Well. This isn't one of them. Don't get me wrong I love my life and my children but let's be real; some days are not so fun.

The month of December was rough. Interesting that the one month that you can hold the whole "Santa's watching" bit over their head is the month that all heck breaks loose. {Editors note: Skip forward a month and things are SOOOOO much better. Did a little self evaluation, a LOT of one on one chats with the kiddos, a LOT of praying and a little restructuring of our lives and things are back in a good place.}

Anyhoo.... Most of the grief around here was largely impart to Miss Caymbree and her clothing issues. Yes I said Caymbree. You may recall that Hope has similar issues. Take hers and times them by ten and you MIGHT reach Caymbree's level of issues. So I'm documenting them here for a number of reasons. 1) Hopefully someday (a long long time from now) I will be able to look back and laugh. 2) Someday when Caymbree has children of her own and calls me with her struggles I can refer her to here 3) theraputic writing 4)to gain your sympathy and understanding 5) and to be real with you and with myself and my posterity. So there you have it. If I have bored you to tears, please feel free to stop reading here. If your interested or can relate...let's go for it.

So about four months ago (completely out of the blue) Caymbree started struggling with her clothes. First it was her pajamas. They bugged her. Her birthday suit was much less restricting and preferable. Okay. Whatever floats your boat. Then it became her socks. And she started to refuse them. A few blisters later proved that she HAD to wear them but it was a major ordeal. She would put them on, fold them down, pull them up, fold them down, take them off, try it all over again shed a few tears and then about 10-15 minutes later (if we were lucky) we might be able to put on shoes. It rapidly moved on to her undies. Yep. The undies became an issue. A BIG issue. I would put them on her. She would take them off. I would put them back on. Eventually she would get them back off. It all came to a head when while walking through the movie theatre a sweet little mother tapped me on my shoulder to point out my 3 year old daughter walking beside me with her pants around her ankle and a undie free bum hanging out. Yep. Naked bum at the theatre. Your laughing right? Ya. I'm not there yet. I'm pretty sure I had steam coming out of my ears.

So by this point Caymbree/clothes/and mom are a lethal combination. I started praying desperately for patience and understanding. I'm thinking it is due to mostly stubbornness and maybe a little discomfort. It wasn't until Hallee's birthday party that I realized how severe the issue really was.

The morning of Hallee's party Caymbree was out of her mind excited about going to Classic Skating. She loves that place and could not stop talking about it. About four hours before the party I got her in the tub and explained that Classic Skating had called and said that you absolutely HAD to wear underwear or they wouldn't let you in. (Hey I was desperate). The interaction went like this...

Me: "SO Caymbree, Classic Skating just called and said that you HAVE to wear underwear or they will not let you in."

Caymbree: {Face turns white and expressionless}.

Me: "I'll let you pick out any underwear that you want but you have to put some on ok?"

Caymbree: {eyes turn downward}. "Mom? Are you going to classic skating? {YEP} "Is dad?" {YEP}. {Fighting back tears} "I'll just stay here."

Me: "What? You don't want to miss out on all the fun."

Caymbree: {In a slow and pitiful voice } "Just leave me your cell number and I'll be fine." {Ok. Kind of funny but oh so sad.}

My heart broke. She was serious. If going to Classic Skating meant putting on underwear then she would rather stay home. Holy Smokes batman!! We have a problem!

Long story short, two hours and a LOT of tears later she still did not have underwear on but she settled for a pair of leggings on under her levi's. Can you think of anything more uncomfortable?? But whatever works.

I finally got the point where I could not fight the battle anymore and basically just gave up for a while. Nothing ruins a day more than starting every morning with World War 3. SO I let her pick out her outfits and we compromised with leggings under Levi's. This means an entire closet of cute outfits are currently sitting unused. But it was worth it!

SO now here we are with a progress report. Clothes are still an issue but we are working through them. Interestingly enough the more I backed off the less tense she became. We went to the store and picked out socks together and turned the socks into a NON-ISSUE. Whew!!! Wish it were that easy with the rest of it. But we are working on it. We are currently in the market for a pair of Levi's or a levi skirt that she will pick out and love.

SO there you have it. The whole ugly truth of the battles we fight at the Hodges home. Any advice, counseling or drugs gladly excepted!! Hopefully it won't be too long before I can look back at this whole experience and laugh. Hopefully it is SOON. Like tomorrow would be great!

5 comments:

smithfamilymoments said...

Oh Jami I am so sorry. I promise you will laugh about it soon. I am already laughing. Sorry. Olivia had some serious clothes issues too. Like the seam in her shirt and pants bugged her like crazy. Probably not as bad as Cambree's though. I am so glad your making strides. Hang in there. I promise it will get better. And as soon as it does, there will be some other issue to work through. Oh the joy!

jgalke said...

You do remember the "comfy pants" debacle at my house right? Davis started @ 2 and only wanted to wear silky basketball shorts with no underwear. Everyday. I guess the freedom would be enticing to a boy but I had to make an underwear when out of the house rule. We are now close to 7 years old and he still prefers this to the undies. Now if only we could solve the picky eating power struggle. Let me know what you come up with.

JLJ said...

That is serious stuff. My #1 is picky about clothes too, but thankfully it has never included underwear. She hates jeans and pretty much anything that wasn't made to lounge in. We have reached a pretty happy medium now. Good luck.

(But I must admit, I was always pretty picky about my panties too:) )

Unknown said...

I am trying to write something full of support and wisdom, but it is difficult to see the keyboard keys while my eyes are full of tears from laughter. Brad and I just cannot seem to stop laughing! I know this will pass and someday you will look back at this as a fond memory, but until then...keep smiling. Love ya, Grandma Susu

Larsen's! said...

So, my girls say that that's why girls wear "g-strings" now. Maybe you should try a pair of them for Caymbree - do they make them that small? If she can handle tights with jeans she probably wouldn't mind the string up her butt!!! Just sayin'! Good luck!