In the past couple of months Isla has become very assertive when it comes to what she wants to wear. I say fashion conscious, but that's not really it as what she decides to wear isn't really Spring/ Summer 2012 or anything, it's just that she knows what she likes and what she doesn't like!
Initially it was all rooted in wearing everything with Peppa Pig on it. I found that she was wearing clothes with cartoon characters on all the time and it drove me a little crazy. Grandparents would buy her Peppa clothing and she loved it! I do love all that kind of thing but I also wanted her to wear other non branded clothing. So, the purchases of Peppa clothing slowed down a bit until I made a trip to Asda with Isla before Christmas. We were taking a look at the clothes when she spotted a pink stripey Peppa Pig dress. Now, I really didn't like it but I got the impression that things were going to be a bit tricky in the supermarket if I didn't get her that dress and when they're priced so cheaply it was no sweat to buy it for her. Here is the offending item....
This dress has now become her favourite item of clothing and she teams it up with some (non-matching) pink leggings and stripey socks. She LOVES it. The only way we can get away with her not wearing it is to say it's in the wash!
Having said that she likes all things Peppa, she will not wear this particular Peppa top that I bought for her from Tesco.
I really liked it as it wasn't the typical pink, girly style, it's purple and blue and in my eyes a bit more funky. Can I get her to wear it? NO. I even give her a choice now in the mornings and every now and then I get this top out along with another more plain one and she always says "I'll wear that one later" to the Peppa Pig top! When she says she'll do anything later it basically means NEVER.
Then at Christmas time Isla got an outfit bought for her by her great aunt, some jeans and a top. The top was navy blue with a pink pattern on. One morning I got the outfit from the draw and went to put it on her. I got the jeans on but when I went to put the top over her head, she flatly refused to wear it. I tried again a few days later and again she really wouldn't wear it. Luckily I hadn't taken the tags off and I decided that there was no point in forcing her to wear something she didn't like and I took it back to the shop for something else.
To me this all seems a bit early for her to have such opinions on what she wears. A couple of weeks ago she had her first ballet lesson and afterwards I promised her i would get her a net ballet style skirt. I'd already seen one in Next and so we headed there. She proceeded to lead me all round the store pointing out what she liked and refusing a lot of what I was pointing out! We also came away with the headband she is wearing in the pictures above.
I love it and I'm finding her new found girliness and desire for dresses really sweet as up until now I've not really dressed her like that. She's been more like a mini me - wearing jeans and tops and nearly always trainers. I'm looking forward to summer and her wearing all sorts of pretty stuff!
Is your toddler as assertive about what they want to wear? Does it differ between boys and girls? Do you tend to dress your little one like a mini you? I'd love to know your thoughts.