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Conservative

Luke is not always welcoming of change. I am really starting to appreciate Eleanor's flexibility and Amanda's easy-going nature.

Since spring has arrived on the heels of the snowstorm last week, I thought Luke would enjoy changing from his fleecy jammies to his cotton stretchy jammies. (Also, Luke had managed to get the feet of his fleece jammies all wet, and they hadn't dried by bedtime...) He was interested when I got them out, but when I suggested that he wear them, immediate sadness ensued.

Luke grabbed them away from me and tried to put them back in the drawer they came from. He screamed and struggled every step of the way: arms in, legs in, zipping up... The process took about 5 minutes longer than it would have if he had just cooperated. We made a big fuss over how handsome Luke looked, and how nice the jammies were, in hopes of reconciling him to the new pajamas. However, the next day the same thing happened. The day after that I asked Michael to put Luke into his jammies (I had had about enough) and he did, with similar results (although I think there was slightly less screaming).

Tonight I asked Luke to go get the jammies from the chair, and he did. When I asked him to bring them to me, he started towards me but then caught on and ran back to the dresser to try to put them back in the drawer (which is about 4 feet up: not much of a chance). I finally got the jammies from him and put his froggy in the jammies. When Luke finally looked at me, he giggled. I took jammies off froggy and Luke started to wind up for a big scream, so I tried putting the jammies on myself. Then I put them on Eleanor. "Are these Mama's jammies?" (Nooo.) "Are these Eleanor's jammies?" (Noooo.) "Are these Froggy's jammies? No, they're Luke's jammies!" As I said this I got closer and closer, and finally was able to put the jammies on Luke with no fuss.

Ha! A successful parenting moment. They come rarely enough that I feel justified in enjoying it for a little bit, until the next unsuccessful moment. Sometimes a small change takes a lot of work.
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