In most households this is probably a normal occurence, but in ours it was quite exciting.
When I told Jessica she could wear a shirt, she blurted out loudly, "YAY! Yahooo! A shirt!!"
Who would have thought that an item of clothing would have elicited such excitement?
I can't remember if I have ever explained how difficult it is for Jessica to transition season to season in appropriate clothing. She will often still be sporting a hat and gloves in May, or try to get away with a tank top in November. This is a fight that I wage every year, as do a lot of parents with kids on the spectrum.
At the beginning of the year I bought her all new cat shirts - because we all know Jessica will only wear shirts with cats on them. We probably have 25 cat shirts. Where does one buy cat shirts? Old Navy of course. Thank God for Old Navy.
So I bought all of these shirts, and Jessica started to grow out of them as her body changed (puberty is awesome). She would be wearing these tight cat shirts and leggings (because we all know zippers and buttons are banned). It was not a pretty sight. Then one day I took her to Sears and we bought 5 Lands End dresses to go over the leggings. She tried them on, and picked out the ones she wanted. Slowly but surely, we got rid of the cat shirts.
The dresses were beautiful on her, and once she started to wear her fake Uggs with them she looked even better. Her teachers complimented her, and told me how great she looked. It was a miracle. I got her out of the cat shirts.
Now, don't get me wrong - the dresses have not been a breeze to transition into. When Jess is having a particularly rough morning she will scream, "I hate dresses! I want to wear shirts!" This happens at least 3-4 times a week, and can strike when you least expect it. Last week I picked her up from school and she read me the riot act about her dresses.
Fast forward to this morning. Everyone at school was going to be wearing green for St. Patrick's Day. Jessica does not have a green dress, so I was a little worried about what I would do. Then I remembered that back at the beginning of the school year (pre-dresses) her teacher and I came up with the idea that I would buy her some big generic t-shirts from the craft store and she would have her wear them for a short time everyday. The goal was to get her out of the cat shirts and into a shirt that fit appropriately. I remembered that one of those t-shirts was green - SCORE!
I woke Jessica up today, and told her she could wear the green shirt and not her dress today. Like I said earlier - her reaction was priceless. Who would have known that a $2 green t-shirt could have made someone so happy? Not me. But then nothing Jessica does is expected. The kid keeps me guessing everyday. Gotta love her!
Jessica in her green shirt with her brother Jack
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