Harlan walked in my room this morning dressed and ready for school. She’s usually my alarm clock in the morning and I’m lucky that she takes the initiative to get dressed on her own. She takes her school fashion very seriously and it’s one of the things that I let her express her indivuality on. I’m usually very impressed with her outfit choices and have no problem, but this morning she had me shaking my head.
Har walked into my room with long pants, a long sleeve shirt, sweater, and boots. Although we still have one more week left of summer, Harlan is ready for fall and the cooler weather.
“It was cold outside yesterday mom, so I wanted to make sure I was warm enough today,” she insisted.
She was right. We woke up yesterday morning to temperatures in the low 60s and the fall chill was in the air. I told the kids to put on sweaters yesterday morning as we walked out of the door, so I guess that Harlan took it a step further and got well prepared for the cool crisp morning.
“I love your outfit Har, but I think it’s supposed to get a little warm this afternoon, so why don’t we just wear a dress and then you can put a sweater over it?” I asked.
“But I love these warm clothes so much!” she exclaimed.
I’d just woken up and I didn’t want to get in an argument over school outfit choices to I did some quick thinking and tried to come to a resolution.
“How about this weekend, you can help me go in the basement and get all of your warm fall clothes and we can wash them together and then switch your closet over to all of those warm clothes you love?” I asked hopefull that she would be okay with my suggestion.
“That sounds like a good idea,” she said with a smile on her face.
She loves to help me do any of the housework, so combining that with her love of fashion, it was a win win in her book.
I have to admit, I’ve been looking forward to warmer clothes nearly just as much as Harlan is. It’s always been one of my favorite seasons and especially since we’ve moved to the Northeast, with the leaves changing, apple picking, and backyard fire pits.
It’s probably a good thing that I made the promise to Har to change our clothes over this weekend as I’m not sure I’ll ever get to it other than this weekend. This fall is a busy one for our family, with MacKay or I traveling nearly every week or weekend for work.
While I know that Har loves to do these household chores with me because she thinks they are fun (and her help is definitely welcome,) I still like to make it a bit more fun for her and thought if we are going to change out the clothes for fall, why not make the entire activity fall themed?
I’ll get the apple cider ready and take it down to the basement as we get the clothes out that have been stored all summer long. Har will help me organize the clothes so that I can throw them in the washing machine with the Tide Pods. I’ve mentioned before that I switched to the Tide Pods Free and Gentle since Macks was born. Between the mountains of laundry I do a week and Macks’ eczema, Tide Pods make laundry easier. Just pop them in and go.
We’ve got about four boxes of fall clothes between all five of us, so I know it’s going to be a seven or eight loads of laundry kind of activity for Harlan and I on Saturday. That’s why we have the apple cider to help make it a fun mom and daughter activity.
It’s funny how mundane things such as laundry can excite a child. I didn’t think that doing loads of laundry to start out the season was the most exciting thing in the world, but knowing that Har and I will make a day out of it for ourselves has me looking forward to it.
