Neon Tiger

When I was in grade one or two, I can't remember which, there was a little boy in my class: let's call him T.  T was a fairly average, quiet boy with shaggy brown hair and no particularly notable characteristics as a fellow classmate, the exception being his penchant for a majestic grey tiger sweatshirt that he wore on a daily basis and often paired with a set of jogging pants.  T had it bad for this shirt.  Looking back from the perspective of a parent I can only imagine the amount of time and energy T's caregiver(s) would have spent laundering this prized article of clothing or whether they opted to have a closet full of grey Tiger Sweatshirts like he was some sort of super hero.

Photo day approached at our school and our teacher seemed hellbent on emphasizing the importance of looking nice for our class picture.  She made a point on singling out T and his majestic Tiger shirt in front of the class, lambasting him that a dress shirt and slacks was appropriate for photo day and a certain sweat shirt with a giant feline on it was not.  Even at seven I recognized how inappropropriate  this teacher's behaviour was, but hey this was the same lady who made me wait close to an hour post recess before she let me scrape dog crap off of my leg.  Teachers in the 1980s got away with stuff that they'd be disciplined for in two seconds flat today.

Image Courtesy of Wikipedia.

On photo day T showed up for school in a pair of black patent leather dress shoes, grey dress trousers and a white button up shirt.  Over top he had the perfect "accessory".  He didn't wear a sweater vest, he didn't wear a blazer, he wore his trademark Tiger Sweatshirt. Well played T. you glorious seven year old bastard!

In less than a month Jack and Molly will participate in my brother's wedding.  The amount of braveness put forward by my brother and his bride by inviting not just one, but two toddlers into their wedding party is truly touching, albeit insane.  Molly is very excited about her participation in the wedding and looking forward to wearing an adorable dress as the youngest of four flower girls. She has excitedly tried on her dress many times and talks about how my sister E will put "brains" in her hair the day of the wedding (she really means braids).  The only outfit "snag" I foresee so far has to do with a request I received last night about which "princess gloves" she is going to wear at the wedding.

Jack is another story.  There have been several issues of comprehension towards his role as ring bearer.  The first one came about two months ago when he announced, "I'm going to be a ring bear, ROAR!", next he had a complete temper tantrum when we went shopping for a suit for him to wear at the wedding, where he yelled over and over, "NO MORE HALLOWEEN!" at the top of his lungs.  The act of trying on clothing in a store, particularly "costumes", has not gone well with Jack since this past October. We reluctantly purchased a cheap pair of dress pants, vest, shirt and tie.  Weeks later we had him try it on again, to which we endured the same response along with him frantically attempting to tear off his shirt like he was Clark Kent turning into Super Man.

We have spoken to the bride and groom about this set of circumstances to get their feedback. Essentially we can force Jack into wearing the suit, but odds are that he's going to roll down the aisle screaming and stripping himself all the way.  Thankfully, I think we've all come up with a solution that will work for everyone.  A special thank you to D & K for allowing for Jack's Tiger Spirit Animal to fly. Only time will tell what happens with the princess gloves.

To read about Molly and the leggings debacle click here.


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