Let's make a deal

Cam has become very opinionated when it comes to clothes. This week he is on a Bengal kick. He found his Bengal outfit in the closet and insisted on wearing it. That was fine... for the first day. The next day I told him it was dirty and he went and fished it out of the hamper. The third day, same deal... at least this time I got him to wear the warmer (and clean) pants. It's going to be rainy and cold today, so I tried to convince him to put his Bengals sweatshirt over the onesie he is so attached to. No dice. I even stood with him on the deck for a few minutes to demonstrate how cold it was. He still kept crying and trying to take it off.

I sat down at the kitchen table with him and said, "Listen. How about this. When you get to school, if it's warm enough in your room, we can take it off then." He calmed down and nodded. "Wow!" I told him. I was so excited. "Wow, we made a deal! This is great. You've learned how to compromise." Definitely a big step. He smiled, and said "I no want to take it off." I thought he meant at all, but as soon as we got to his classroom he started to try to pull it off. I smiled at his teachers and told them "At least his pants are different today. I told him he could take off the sweatshirt when we got here, and it looks like he remembered." He sat down happily for snack, patting his beloved Bengal decal that is halfway gone.