I’m on the road right now, have been attending a rather tense business meeting, and am feeling fried. While in Boston, I engaged in a little retail therapy to take my mind off of more pressing matters and to escape dreaded pre-dinner drinks. (Having spent 8 hours in a conference room with these people and looking forward to a few more hours of dinner and after-dinner drinks, is it really necessary to also pre-game with them?)
Unfortunately, even that was work, as I am from head to toe a specialty size, a designation that doesn’t make me feel special in any good way. There is no joy in spotting a great jacket or a really cool shoe and immediately thinking, “Well, that won’t fit” or “Too bad they won’t have this in my size.” It’s a pain: a giant, expensive pain that online shopping and alterations cannot totally solve.
That’s why it gives me no joy to see Simon going down the same path. I can only hope his journey will be brief. The problem is that Simon is long and lean at the moment-itself a good thing, but not exactly conforming to the standard size charts.
Four months ago, his height put him in the 2T size, but his weight put him at 12-18 months. Thanks to a recent trip to the pediatrician for allergies, I now know that he’s gotten about an inch taller but only gained 7 ounces in the past four months. His giant diapers literally filled the gaps until recently, but at the pool and at preschool, two places where I can’t use cloth diapers, the guy just can’t keep his drawers up.
Curious, I finally got out the measuring tape one night recently. Oh boy. It looks to me like he’s now just under 34 inches tall-well into the 2T class. His chest measured 20 inches, which put him in the 12-18 month size range. And his waist came in at 17 inches, at the high end of the 6-12 month size range. No wonder he’s hard to fit! And no wonder I have a hard time finding his “toddler pot belly” that all kids his size are supposed to have.
My mom and Evie both had to dress boys with similar proportions, and the consensus seems to be to put him in overalls as much as possible and prepare to spend many an hour hunting for slim-sized clothes. Which sounds a lot like work, and not much like retail therapy at all.
Drew has the same issue. He is 5T for height but he can still wear some of his 2T and 3T shorts! I buy pants with the adjustable elastic/button contraption in them. Most better brands have them. The only issue with them is that I have to tighten them so much that there is a noticble bunching around the waist. Since he is long out of diapers and has no bum to speak of we just hope he’ll keep ’em up! Good luck!