Going Parental: Sensory Overload

I recently wrote a post ^[1] about my three-year-old daughter and her new found love of torturing me. She’s a smart, sassy little girl with an attitude that, at times, stops me in my tracks. It’s hard to fault her for something she most likely inherited from me. Plus, she’s ridiculously funny — like she gets-the-joke kind of funny. But lately, the cute and funny part of her is taking a backseat to a whining, screaming child — and the cause of these outbursts? Getting dressed.

Picking out clothes was something she used to absolutely love. This is a child that would empty her drawers and like a matching game, would lay out shirts, pants and skirts that she thought looked good together. And she was really good at it. We’re talking America’s youngest Project Runway ^[2] contestant in the making.

Now — she’s America’s youngest hot mess.

We have come to realize that my daughter has severe sensory issues with clothing. Getting her dressed in the morning has become an absolute disaster. I would rather lay face down on broken glass and have a sumo wrestler jump up and down on my back than get her dressed. It’s upsetting for everyone involved in the process. It’s frustrating, infuriating — but most of all, it’s incredibly sad. I want nothing more than to help her and find a way to fix this but I am at a complete loss.

We have figured out that American Apparel’s Karate Pants ^[3] and a soft long-sleeve T-shirt are the way to go. We pick out her outfits the night before and make sure she is happy with them, but what felt good on her yesterday can be an absolute disaster the very next morning.

Is this just a normal part of development? Do all toddlers go through this? Is it a control thing? Is she punking me?

S.O.S.

Going Parental appears every Thursday. What’s left of my sanity appears far less often.