Regression.

Marley had a delightful winter vacation. First of all, there was the ceremony and build-up and PRESENTS of Christmas. Then, there were lots of pancakes and french toast and lazy, lazy mornings. There was no preschool, no gymnastics, no ballet. Some days, she stayed in her pajamas or nightie all day. In fact, there was one freak sixty degree day soon after our blizzard, and Marley spent the morning, and then the afternoon, shoveling, making snowballs, and later riding her bike: all in her beautiful nightie.

As a result, it's been a teeny-tiny challenge to get back into the swing of things. Specifically, back to wearing clothes, complete ensembles. She's lost her cool a few mornings when I've told her to get dressed. Yesterday, before her first gymnastics class after two weeks off, I asked her to change out of her Tinkerbell nightie and into her leotard. She collapsed onto the floor, threw her head back, and whined: "But I don't want to get dressed! I want to stay in my nightie!" And then she howled and sobbed a little bit. And I, going to immediate extremes, told her she would NO LONGER be going to gymnastics if it was such a bother to get dressed for it. We got through it.

Here's the thing. Marley was a total nutjob about her nighties when she was two and three years old. She often collapsed on the floor when I asked her to get dressed, threw her head back, and whined and sobbed about the injustice of having to wear an actual outfit to leave the house. So basically, I've seen this all before. And it was not a phase about which I've been nostalgic. But the good news is, Marley's latest spurt of Nighttime Wear Protests is intermittent rather then daily, and completely understandable given her days off the grid, rather than, well, as incomprehensible as any toddler's desperate stand for control and independence.

Or maybe, it has to do with the fact that her mother is often wandering around the house in her sweatpants? And a Celtics winter hat? And then leaves the house to do errands in her sweatpants and Celtics winter hat? Therefore completely blurring the line between lounging, cleaning, and presenting oneself to larger society? Let's just say that Tim Gunn would shake his head sort of sadly at me, as if to say I didn't need to give up so soon.