orange socks, red shoes

Every time G gets new shoes (and I throw away his oldest most beaten up pair) the new shoes are not nearly so exciting as the ones that he had virtually no interest in previously.  I'm not entirely sure why, but this has happened three times in succession now.  Currently we have orange shoes and red shoes.  We used to have red shoes and blue shoes.  The blue ones were his favorites, but now the formerly shunned red shoes are way out in front.

Other clothing quirks of late involve socks.  G has been throwing huge, collapse on the floor fits when we announce it's time to put socks on.  Because of this he has been mostly barefoot even though it's cooold, unless we leave the house.  So we tell him it's time to wear socks and get a pair from the dresser.  He cries and screams and throws the socks across the room.  I finally figure out that he wants to choose his socks.  And he doesn't want to choose white socks.  Or gray socks.  Or beige socks.  No, he wants the very elusive green socks and black socks and red socks.  He tells me one afternoon he wants orange socks.  We put on the orange socks.  Five minutes later orange is no longer in style.  Blue is the new orange.  We change.  (I somewhat sneakily and a little bit guiltily put the orange pair away in the drawer again.)  Sometimes he goes to school in a blue shirt, blue pants, orange socks and red shoes.  If he's happy and clean, it's okay with me (this doesn't apply to weddings or funerals).

I need to buy more orange socks.  Soon.

Likewise, L has her own ways of dealing with clothes.  These mostly involve getting her clothes dirty within five minutes of being dressed, taking her shoes off compulsively and then crying to have them put back on again, and trying to steal her brothers clothes and figure out how to wear them instead of her own.

Sometimes I get annoyed by all this, but usually I just laugh and bring out seven pairs of socks to choose from.