Vintage Plaid
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Mom gave Toddler two dresses for her third birthday. Beautiful dresses. My dresses. Dresses I wore once upon a time when I was a little girl.
Yesterday morning, I put Toddler in one of them for school. An orange plaid smock dress. She looked adorable. And hated it. And tried to pull it off. I told her it was Mommy’s dress and that it looked good. She started to cry. I told her that it would mean something to Mommy if she wore it. She cried a bit more. So I bribed her with some Scooby fruit snacks.
Done.
After school and before the nap that never happened, I told her that I wanted to take a picture of her in Mommy’s dress. And then she did that weird concave, hands-on-hips thing that only supermodels do. And this baffled me and alarmed me and made me laugh. When I laughed, she and her sister laughed too.
And then she put on her matching Diego Rescue Pak. Her trademark tote that she fills with new things each day before heading off to school. Wait, that’s not true. Sometimes, a bit too often, we find petrified English muffins in said bag. And then we rescue them. Anyway, she put on her orange backpack with her orange dress and hopped around like some kind of Frankenstein bunny and laughed so hard I thought she might choke.
And then my little Einstein realized that she could get a way with quite a bit with a Mommy stuck behind a camera. So she ran and scaled our infamous chocolate-clad white chairs in her “slippy tights” to get a closer look at Max & Ruby. And, yes, she almost slipped. Which was apparently hilarious. For everyone but Mommy.
Later, we had a tender moment while she went potty.
“Do you like Mommy’s dress?” I asked in a soft, soothing tone.
“Yes,” she said.
“Do you think it would still fit Mommy?”
“Noooooooooo,” she said, laughing. “It is way too little.”
I told her she was right. Mommy was too big.
What I didn’t tell her was how amazing it was to see her in my childhood frock, making silly faces, doing silly things, twirling with priceless abandon. I didn’t tell her how that little dress and her big laugh brought me back to a time I didn’t think I remembered.
Who knew a little old orange dress, a bit of vintage plaid, could make a Mommy’s day? Who knew?
Footnote for Fairness: I just read Husband this post. And he laughed and said he loved it. But then he said, “What about my rainbow hat? It gets no air-time?” Okay, to be fair, Toddler has fallen madly in love with a rainbow pom-pom hat that Husband wore when he was a little boy. She does not even need to be bribed with sugar to wear it. So stay tuned for the Rainbow Hat Post. Happy now, Husband? 
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Do you or your kids have any meaningful hand-me-downs that conjure past times and fond memories? Do your kids ever exhibit weird behaviors that make you wonder if they’ve been sneaking bits of reality television? Do you ever bribe your kids with snacky-snacks? Do you ever feel bad about bribing your kids with snacky-snacks?
Oh Aidan! What a glorious post! What memories you have conjured up for me!
My children, with the exception of #3 because of being a twin, were all baptized in the same family gown. It is falling apart and in constant need of repairs but is still floating around with new baby cousins being put in it.
Then there were the other things – none of them mine it seems – but a sailor suit for the boys that had been their father’s, sweaters that came from aunts and uncles that had been knitted for their own children. I need to look for pictures.
So cute, I love the clambering shot. My daughter is so reckless that it gives me the shivers and I’ll bet it might do you too, or are you used to it!?
Lovely post, Aidan. And one that makes me just a bit sad that I don’t have a little girl (yet?) to clad in some of the childhood clothing that my mom has held onto. My mom did recently give me the matching sweater jackets that my grandmother had knitted for my brother and me. They’re still too big for my boys, but I do look forward to seeing them in them.
And, if it makes you feel better, bribing Big Boy with snacky-snacks is a signature move chez Motherese. And I don’t really feel that bad about it. Sometimes, but not often.
What a fun moment for you! Makes me wish I had more things from my childhood for the little rug-rats I’ll probably poop out one day.
Lovely, lovely, lovely! These are the moments – slippy tights and all – that make the day.
My son (he is 13) will do just about anything for Hot Wings!
My daughter loves to wear her mom’s things, doesn’t matter what it is…
There are pictures (in a trunk somewhere) of the girls trying on hats given to us from my Aunt (she was old back in 95 departed now) they are real treasures!
This is an awesome post!
Orange plaid is the best!
The girls both wore old hats of mine–one made out of some furry substance and another one that was hand-knit in Norway. Seeing them in those hats always made me smile.
I love this story! I could actually hear you all laughing. It’s wonderful.
And, thanks again, Aidan, for your kind words and beautiful wisdom a couple of days ago. You helped me avoid disintegration.
Love love love this post – just made me smile. Don’t you just love how kids are so in the moment? I did have one question for you – coming from a mom with 2nd on the way – did you have an internal mental list of things you wanted to do or not want to do with your second babe? I feel like it all went too fast with my first. I definitely will enjoy those first few weeks more and know they are fleeting. Last random thought for you – think I should start a midwest fan club for ILI – feel like all the mom’s groups around here just aren’t for me. Thanks again for the daily insights.
Baby E wears my clothes all of the time! She has some of my shirts, dresses, and even some of my old jamies. I love seeing her in things that I wore 30 years ago.
While my baby can’t stand by herself yet, my nieces pose like they are on the red carpet! It’s hysterical. Too many US Weeklys, I think…
This brings back memories of some of my favorite dresses I wore as a little girl. Every Passover my mom would buy her “faw gawgiss dawtas” (born in Brooklyn, grew up on Long Island!) new dresses. They weren’t as amazing as my friends’ Easter frocks – no hat or tantalizing, white, matching gloves to cover our delicate fingers – but they were new and they were pretty and we got to pick them out ourselves.
I’ll never forget twirling around in my blue plaid dress with a white “napkin” collar and a big, red bow, with white tights, and my favorite, red, patent leather shoes. Those were special days, indeed.
Precious post, Aidan. The joy you share with your little ones shines on every page.
Bribe my kids? Sister – ALL. THE. TIME.
First, what is it about kids and climbing furniture? Like, I see a couch and they see an interesting climbing trail over the miniature Himalyas. Second, how lovely that you get to see your own clothes on your kids! My mother, the most unsentimental woman alive, who turned my bedroom into a guest room the second I drove away to college, never kept one outfit. She handed down and handed down and then gave away.
Because my mother kept everything, my child has worn a lot of my own hand-me-downs. It charms me beyond measure.
AWW, I love this post. Mostly because I can identify with it from both sides.
-I feel for ‘Mommy’s side’, the sentimental memory and history of that dress. I can’t even image what that must have felt like to see your own daughter wearing something that was *yours*, the ‘grown up’ notion of passing something on to your own child. The smell, the symbolism, etc. I have things from my childhood saved away for my future children,
-But I also feel for ‘Toddler’s’ side. “Um, Mommy, I have preschool today and I want to wear my shiny leggings and sweater and uggs and jaguar coat”. “Toddler’ is so independent and she knows what she likes.
The Diego backpack was a genius idea for photo taking
What is really interesting is that I also had a similar dress. I don’t know if my mom bought it or my grandmother made it or what exactly the story was. But in the early 80s, that plaid flannel dress was my ‘Annie’ costume. I wonder if my mom saved it…I would to have it back, actually.