Picking Battles

I think I get it now when I think back to the little girls I'd see walking around the mall with their parents in a princess dress. I'd wonder how they were allowed to go out like that.

You gotta pick your battles, as they say.

Big Bro is on a blue kick; he loves the colour blue and anything lucky enough to be blue. Blue markers, blue blocks, blue cars, blue Flintstone vitamins (though I had to tell him those don't exist). I think his little bro even got some points because he has blue eyes.

I like to give Big Bro choices so he has a feeling of autonomy. But if I give him the choice between his green shirt and orange shirt, he will choose the blue one. I wish I'd known this was coming before I bought, you know, a variety of shirts.

So, what was I saying about battles? Some battles are worth picking, such as:

- 2-year-old wants to drive the car: worth picking
-2-year-old wants to 'store' family friend's Ticket to Ride game pieces in the heating vent: worth picking
- 2-year-old wants to eat a block of butter with a fork: worth picking
 
But if said 2-year-old wants to pick all his clothes just based on whether they're blue? Maybe I can let him have this one. Sometimes.

So, from his selection of shirts, he picks the stained souvenir T-shirt from Nunavut with the fish on it... because it's blue.

From the multi-coloured selection of socks (or the option of no socks, considering it's been 36 with humidex lately), he picks the big fuzzy ones... because they're blue.

He has two pairs of sneakers... one casual, stylish pair and one good pair for running around. And oh yeah, he has some cheapo blue croc knockoffs meant for when we go to splash pads and whatnot. So, crocs it is, of course.

So if you're out at the mall and you see a kid dressed like this,

Chances are he's with me.

Well, why not, eh?  It's what being a kid is all about, he's showing off some, uh, personality, and besides... if I let him have this one, he'll likely be more receptive later on when I deny him that block of butter.