Mr. Right-Click came back from the mall the other day with this dress.
“Fine, you can dress her in that, if you want, but I won’t be doing it,” I announced.
“You know, she’s going to want to wear stuff like this,” he said.
“Not when she’s a newborn, she won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Newborn clothes should be comfortable, cotton, soft stuff. Newborns sleep most of the time, when they’re not crying. Who would sleep in something like that?”
“Dresses are comfortable . . .”
“How many dresses have you worn in your life?”
” . . .”
“That’s what I thought,” I said.
This is going to be difficult for me.
Part of me is happy that Mr. Right-Click bought the dress because, in my mind, it is a product of how much he cherishes the idea of having a little girl of his own. If I’m in the right mood, I can even get a little weepy about it, because when I hear Mr. Right-Click talk about our daughter and how she will be a little princess, then I think how fantastic it is, that my daughter will have a father who cherishes her like that. I think about how there’s probably nothing better in the world than that for her future happiness. I like that part.
But then I think, at some point, there’s a good chance she’ll start wanting to wear that stuff on her own. Maybe it will be because of socialization, or maybe it’s something that is hard-wired, or whatever, who knows? And if and when she does that, then I will go along with it just like I do when Mini announces that he wants to get a five-foot-tall Fathead sticker of Optimus Prime to put on his bedroom wall. Even though I cannot really think of many things that are worse than a five-foot-tall Fathead sticker of Optimus Prime on a bedroom wall. Except maybe a white satin dress with a lace overlay. For a newborn.
I love it. It’s beautiful. But yeah I do agree it’s a bit much for a newborn.
I wear dresses like 85 % of the time. I can move in them. I love the unbound feeling I like the way the fabric falls and the sensation of the fabric moving on my skin. The choices are so much more varied than slacks. I like the one piece and DRESSED aspect. I find them more weather friendly than pants. So cool and breezy in summer and warmer with tights and such in winter. They are far more forgiving of my flaws than pants also.
I tend to wear pants as job specific. Heavy house work.. hiking that sort of thing. One practical aspect of baby girls in dresses is EASE of diaper changes. Plus holy cow the CUTE of a ruffled butt /dress combo.
I thought I was the only one, Dr. A dress (without horrible empire waistlines that are back that add ten pounds) is the best outfit for my body. All one color, very simple, fitted but not hobag tight, is so much more flattering than any pant/top combination I can think of.
I’d been reading a lot of articles about stilettos and whether we’re making ourselves uncomfortable for the sole purpose of attracting menfolk. Women sacrifice comfort for society’s ideals on beauty.
We have no idea how our 2-year-old daughter discovered princesses. She didn’t start day care until months after she started saying, “I look like a princess!” when she picked out a dress to wear. (We have many doting relatives, we haven’t had to purchase clothes for her yet, and she’s two. She has many things I’d never pick out for her).
She was given purple glittery Tinkerbell flip-flops that were too big for her. For two weeks, she’d put them on every time we went for our nightly walk. She’d try and struggle with walking around in them, and we’d have to turn around two houses down to come back and change shoes.
We are not uncomfortable for society’s ideals on female beauty. We are uncomfortable because, “LOOK! SHINY!!!”
I would have said it’s society before, but having a little girl, this stuff can be hard-wired. Then again, all kids are different. *shrug*
I was so sure I wouldn’t even put a BOW in my daughter’s hair. I read this via twitter and just had to relate to the title – I did the very same thing when I was pregnant with a girl after 3 boys- http://www.adventuresinbabywearing.com/2008/05/and-so-it-begins.html – I will admit that she never did wear the dress. My intention was for photos and she grew so fast I never got her in that dress until later- for a photo- and the back was unbuttoned.
Steph
I attended a lecture where a “world famous child psychologist” mentioned that daughters are tired of their parents suggestions at the age of five whereas sons welcome suggestions until they wed. He said it as a joke, but there’s a little bit of truth in it.
I still lay out the clothes for my nine year old son every morning and he wears them. I have little control over my four-year-old daughter. I try and lay out clothes for her as well. Pretty pink dresses. But she prefers the JAWS tee shirt I purchased in the boys section of Old Navy. She threw a fit and wouldn’t allow me to leave without buying it. My son has never had a fit over clothes.
Daughters. They are some thing else. Enjoy dressing her as long as you and your husband can.
I think it’s pretty darn cute! I love skirts, dresses and all things feminine and I think sleeping in a night gown is similar to sleeping in a dress.
Seriously your husband is one of the most awesome husbands on the Internet.(and I don’t give out compliments that easily) Your little girl is going to be VERY lucky.
I swore up and down that I would never ‘force’ my daughter to wear a dress. And then people started giving me dresses for her as gifts. Really cute ones. Pink ones. Ones that were so awesome I – who wore t-shirt/hoodie/jeans every day – wanted bigger versions for myself.
I’ve learned over the last two years that comfort and ease of movement are the most important things for my kid. She’s constantly on the go – we joke that she’ll just cease to exist if she stops moving – so dresses aren’t necessarily the best thing for her right now, especially with the running and tumbling. But as a pretty immobile baby, oh heck yes. Especially in the summer. Loved the ease of dresses in summer heat and humidity.
But it is a cute dress. He gets points for trying. Much more than a lot of other guys would do.
So, my daughter is almost 5 now and pretty oblivious to a lot of things. She likes dresses because “they feel pretty, Mum” and I’m happy to go with that. That said, she wears dresses to dance around the house and jeans to wear outside, most of the time. I’m not girly and Amy isn’t what I’d call girly either (although, my god, the squealing!) and it just sort of worked out okay, despite my panicking.
I had a few soft cotton dresses for her as a baby and they were great, right up until she started crawling. Then she’d get her legs caught in them and shorts were our big thing.
I think it’s gonna be okay, dresses aside. Girls aren’t that difficult I’ve found, moody and I definitely worry about her more, but I also worry about my son growing up and learning how to act via peer pressure instead of me. Maybe it’s just parenting is difficult.
It is a totally absurd dress for a newborn. But who cares? It’s over the top and amazing. Put her in it and take some pictures. Just please (pretty pretty please) skip the head band. I am loving that MrRC went out and bought it! My daughter is now 7. There has been a sartorial style shift in the last year. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I cringe, but pretty much it’s out of my control, And I kind of love that, too.
I have 2 girls. Neither are the ‘frilly’ type girls. At this point (14 & 10), I’m happy when the clothes they put on are: Weather appropiate, clean, & fit/cover what’s meant to be covered.
I discovered it’s a losing battle. I buy the clothes, but even with the youngest, I check to make sure it’s something she’ll wear. Which now-a-days is Camo pants/shorts and a t-shirt.
*sigh*
time to read “cinderella ate my daughter”!
clothes are one battle i don’t bother to fight. it’s just not worth it. green vegetable, yes. plaids with stripes and flowers? who cares.
at least it is not disney.
if he was a really good dad/husband, he would buy a matching one for you to wear too.
just kidding.
Mr. Right Click is a sweetie pie.
My three year old daughter has two older brothers. I was so excited to put her in ribbons and bows. Three months ago she chopped all of her hair off (it was so short, it looked like she was preparing for boot camp) and proudly told me, “Now, I’m like one of the guys!” I guess the point is they find their own identity no matter what we want.
It would be adorable if you took a father/daughter picture of them with the dress and then packed it away with a note attached from her daddy. Imagine how special that would be for her some day to know how much she is loved from the very start.
My daughter is almost six, and she’s never seen a Disney Princess movie, EVER. She still is into the princess thing. In fact, her little brother also wears the dress-up princess dresses. He has a favorite…a pink one with tons and tons of that netting stuff. I think he likes the feel of the big bunch of fabric.
You can’t fight it completely, but you can steer it. We talk about how princesses do regular things, and now sometimes they are happy and sometimes they aren’t, and how they still have to make their beds and put their clothes in the hamper and stuff. I think if you resist too much, they can develop kind of a fetish for it.
Kerry: thanks. these are good ideas. helpful.
The dress is adorable, but other than a christening you’re right there really is no reason for her to wear it!
I buy my daughter dresses all the time because they’re so cute, but other than photos very impractical especially since she’s 9 months old and wearing a dress is really tough when you’re trying to crawl. =/ I’m pretty sure my princess is going to grow up and play bakugan and transformers with her brother, so at least while she has little free will I can dress her up. =)
Sweet!
Kerry is right. They somehow just find out about the princess thing. But you know what? It comes and then it goes. My daughter is ten and has shunned all things princessy for the last few years. And shuns dresses in general. I wish I could still get her into those striped Hanna Andersson dress sets. Love those things.
She will be the apple of her dad’s eye at every age!