Mommy instincts

My mommy instincts were right on! Over the last few months, Guy has had fear of putting clothes on. To him, putting clothes on means going bye-bye and he has been terrified to go anywhere. The worst was about two months ago. I put a simple zipper suit on him, and he ripped it off of himself. So we haven't gone anywhere for a long time. I knew that we couldn't live like this forever, so I called his pediatrician for her thoughts. She suggested I bribe him with candy to get his clothes on. That didn't feel right to me. Mommy instincts kicked in, and they told me that Guy has been through so much over the last several months that he just needs stability and patience to get through his adjustment period and that there would be a time that he would get bored in the house and would want to get outside. So he's had nothing but a diaper on through most of the cold spells. But he's been happy. Three days ago, we started to have a warm spell, and all the sudden he decided it was time to go play outside. But he was still resistant to clothes. I knew it wouldn't harm him for long if he were playing outside without clothes on, so I just watched to see what happened. I let him get cold and let his feet get muddy. About twenty minutes later, I asked him if he wouldn't rather put shoes on so his feet felt better and clothes on so he wasn't so cold. He barely hesitated, and ever since the first thing he wants to do is put his shoes on and go play outside in our beautiful little forest.

Lesson learned: the little mommy instincts are an excellent parenting tool.