In preparation for the kids’ “back-to-school” wardrobe I decided to audit the kids clothes. Since I’m still on my make-everything-for-a-year plan, I figured I’d have work to do.
I decided, basically because I’m quite lazy about laundry, that they each need a weeks worth of outfits. For P that means 7 pants and shirt combos for P, and same for M, although some of her outfits might be dresses. As well, each needs 3-4 sweaters and enough pajamas to get through the week (so maybe 3-4).
One day at M’s naptime, I kneeled on the foot of her bed and packed away several pants, tops and dresses that were too short. And after all that culling, it turns out… they don’t need anything! Some of P’s pants and sweaters will likely be too short in a few months, and they could both use some cooler weather pajamas. I will also try to make M some more ‘fancy’ things, since her sweaters are mostly sweatshirts. But there are no immediate necessities required, so I can get to those ‘in due course’.
I was amazed that almost halfway through this challenge it’s been really easy to keep up with what they need. Although when I mentioned that to my mother her reaction was: “You CAN’T send him to school in homemade pants.” Why not? “You just can’t.” After considering that for about 30 seconds, I decided, if he’s traumatized at age 22 because someone made fun of his funky pants, I’m prepared to deal with the consequences. Strangely he was wearing home made shorts the day she made that comment, so I’m not exactly sure how to take it, but probably best not to think about it too much.
Since I didn’t need to make P a new back-to-school outfit, and part of my goal here is not doing too much work unnecessarily, I opted for a “retrofit” or something store-bought. Took about 30 seconds to stencil a little “P” on his Gap tee with fabric paint. I also wrote “I love you” on the (inside) collar with a Sharpie so that he’d have the message with him on his first day. That kind of counts as hand-made, right?
Oh, and the sign says “I’m starting kindergarten. When I grow up, I want to be a: Personal who sees what’s in the ocean and the moon.” I’m feeling like the overall concept would have worked better if he’d just answered Astronaut, or Marine Biologist, in which case I could have written it all in larger, more readable font. However, he would not be limited to those obvious choices.