Baby clothes redux......

This week I received three boxes from my daughter in Washington State holding our grandson's clothing he had outgrown. I was overwhelmed with memories of the clothing I normally would purchase as a single parent for my daughter. She requested I cut up my grandson's out-grown clothing and make a memory quilt. What a unique way to use a child's clothing! Now why didn't I think of this???? I even mentioned to her when she was little, she was the only one in our neighborhood with designer jeans at the ripe old age of three years old. I spent $60 on a pair of Jordache jeans and thought she was the cutest little girl in the world! I purchased clothing for her every six months because she would "out-grow" her old things and of course needed new things to wear. In fact, I preferred her to have new clothing and would forgo my own clothing needs so I could clothe her in the cutest trends imaginable. I even sewed some of her clothing because I couldn't find the girly clothing I wanted for her. Having fun making my little girl look pretty in "girly" things was what I looked forward to. I got the most frilly items I could find to dress her up in, and everyone who came in contact with her thought she always looked so cute. By the time my daughter was six years old, she began to revolt by wearing clothes only she wanted to wear. Even at an early age, she made sure she had had enough of the "frilly" gril thing. Oh DARN!!! I had to relent and let her wear the things she wanted to wear, normally not dresses, but pants and tops and definitely not frilly. Shopping for her just wasn't the same anymore. Having said that, our children grow up to have their own personalities and clothing styles. I found out this same daughter through time enjoyed wearing "classic and clean lines" clothing. She had her own style and looked the way only she wanted to look. I laugh so much looking back on how she developed her clothing style. She was stubborn in her own ways and remains to this day very particular about what she wears. Now she is having a little girl of her own and I asked her, "Are going to dress up your little girl in 'frilly' clothes?" Her comment was to only say "yes". Again, I laugh and know she will have her hands full as her little girl develops her own style as she grows up. I know - parents always say "payback" but I loved dressing my little girl to look girly, but alas, she developed her own style in her own time. (sigh) So now I'm finding I need to transition to figure out what kind of recipe I need to share to go along with the story and can't really think of one. Here's my contribution to this post: Memories made are important for both the parent and the child. One of the things I used to do with my daughter when I was a single parent was to take her out to breakfast before I went to work and she went to pre-school or daycare. Sharing a time with her at one of our favorite restaurants will be one of the best memories I have with her. I would order a cinnamon roll and she would order bacon and share my roll. Moral of the story? Make time to make memories by spending person time with your children, i.e. either a date time with ice cream,trips to the beach, breakfast, or just a special one-on-one time you can share with your child and build memories. Both you as the parent and the child will carry those fond memories of your special times spent together.