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Baby’s First Skinny Jeans

posted Friday January 20th, 2012

Not long ago, Annabelle announced that none of her jeans fit. I was a little surprised; it felt like I’d just bought her new ones.

“Well, Mom, when you wear tight jeans, when you outgrow them you really outgrow them,” she said, adding another pair to the pile.

Good point. Annabelle really rocks the skinny jeans. Nothing obscene, but yeah, there’s not a lot of wiggle room in there. I folded them all carefully and put them in a Trader Joe’s bag to bring to work for my friend Peter’s little girls.

Most of Annabelle’s clothes are handed down to Sophie, of course, but not jeans. Not so far, anyway. Actually, Sophie’s never had a real pair of jeans. Her fine motor skills haven’t been good enough to navigate buttons and zipper flies so far — she’s been more of an elastic pants girl, and she hasn’t cared. But the other night, when yet another outgrown pair surfaced, Sophie grabbed the jeans and pulled them on, announcing she’d wear them the next day.

“Can you button them?” I asked, trying to sound casual. “You know, you need to be really comfortable doing that so you can go to the bathroom at school.”

She showed me that she could button them; the zipper was tougher, so I helped. And the jeans looked pretty good, til she moved a bit and I realized they were three or four sizes too big. Falling all the way off too big.

Not so skinny.

For a while that night, Sophie was excited, ran to show her dad and tried on a few different shirts. But even she had to admit that they were far too big, and tough to get off and on. I didn’t say anything, just waited, and eventually she pulled them off and handed them to me.

I felt a little sad. We all — Annabelle included — know the feeling of having just the right pair of jeans, the ones that make you feel perfect and skinny and grown up. I’m being selfish, keeping Sophie in elastic waists. She can figure out jeans; maybe she can start out by wearing them outside of school only, and work up to it. In tiny ways, I find myself trying to keep my kids little. I need to let them grow up, even if that means buying Sophie the Justin Bieber nightgown I know she’ll love (that makes me cringe, just saying it) or keeping my mouth shut when Annabelle tells me about the front flip she did at the new trampoline place.

“What’s Peter’s daughter’s name again?” Sophie asked as she handed over the jeans. I told her. “Please give these to her,” she said.

I will, I told her, pulling her onto my lap for a cuddle.

And tomorrow, while Annabelle’s at a playdate, Sophie and I are going to go to Old Navy to shop for the perfect pair of brand-new jeans, just for her.

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Tags: Filed under: culture by Amysilverman

2 Responses to “Baby’s First Skinny Jeans”

  1. We’ve virtually given up on jeans- not because of zippers and stuff but because her shape does not support that style- no hips or butt and a little pot belly mean pants do not stay up and she becomes a crack child. So it is elastic pants for us (Lands End is the best!) and JEGGINGS that look like jeans are great too (Target).

  2. Oh that made me tear up. My kids version of fashion, well, it matters to them what they wear, but they haven’t hit the jean stage yet. My “typical” daughter has some difficulty with fine motor too- that may be why she chooses to steer clear of them. One day my girl is going to get picked on for her combinations I think. I hope it’s a long way off. I will hate to have the fashionista in her crushed.

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