Dahlia gets dressed

We recently did some major furniture rearranging in Dahlia's room to make space for baby brother's clothes and to relocate the changing table to our room.  The huge bookshelf is now in the living room with most of the books and toys and Dahlia and brother have a large dresser to share.  I decided to put Dahlia's clothes in the bottom two drawers to give her access to them since she has shown a serious interest in what she wears and wants to pick out her own clothes.  I had no idea how great and hilarious this would turn out to be.  Now, she takes an eternity mulling over her options and getting dressed in the morning, giving me about 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to get myself dressed and ready.  She is completely able to dress herself (undies, socks, she is independent with all of it) though if buttons are involved, she needs help.

Dahlia must be meant for our unpredictable Seattle weather because she is especially drawn to layering.  She also likes to match her clothes by pattern or theme rather than by color (e.g. all butterflies, or all flowers, or all animals, etc).  She loves to put short sleeved shirts on top of long sleeved ones, and often does the same with shorts and pants.  What follows are the ensembles that I was able to get pictures of.  And yes, I do let her go out of the house in whatever she picks, as long as it isn't  wildly inappropriate for the weather.  You are only 2.5 years old once and I want to let her have the freedom to express herself with her clothes.  There are very few occasions in her little life where she needs to be "properly dressed" so, what the heck.

Bee hat, stegosaurus hoodie (there are eyes and spikes on the hood), capilene hiking pants, bee socks, crocs, flower shirt under the hoodie

All orange, socks included (oh, and there's me at about 34 weeks)

Bee hat and jammies, with bee socks

This one isn't particularly wild, but it was for a hike and she insisted that her necklace was essential for hiking.

With her friends Lydia and Evi.  It was cold that day and I told her she couldn't wear just the little turtle shorts and short sleeved turtle shirt.  She picked out the striped ruffly sweater and the leg warmers and declared herself good to go.

Very sleepy in this picture, but I love the knee socks.

Orange shirt with orange pants and a crazy flower shirt on top is a frequent choice for her when it is all clean and ready for her in the drawer.

Does this even need a caption?

A lovely blending of patterns.

Stripes + dots + flowers on top = awesome

This is one of her best.  We were going to a going-away party for a friend who is traveling for a while this summer and Dahlia decided to go all out.  She called this her "party suit."  Heart and stripes dress, bunny knee socks with balls on the tops, short pants, leg warmers on her arms, a flower headband, and her bee backpack with a book in it.  

Bee jammie shirt with a dots and stripes shirt on top, butterfly pants, denim skirt, and purple crocs

This one sort of color matched, though it was a wacky mix of patterns.

And the very best for last...flower pants, orange shorts with flowers on the sides, long sleeved flower shirt, short sleeved flower shirt, 4th of July dog tank top, and under it all, her swim suit top.  Side note: she is holding a Bristle Block airplane she had made and immediately put in a pair of her undies to "keep it warm."

Later she needed to take her turtle and baby Flora for a walk and decided that one of her many shirts would make a good baby carrier.  So resourceful.