I may not be in fashion design, but...

something is seriously wrong with little boys clothing.

Today, I loaded up my children and went on a quest for summer clothing. We have already done this a few times this season. We have been to Target, Kohl's, Gap, JC Penney, Sears, etc, etc, to no avail. Aidan seems to be between the toddler boys section and the little boys section - neither really fits at this point, and he is pretty particular about fit... He wants shorts to be long, but not look like capris. All the size 5's are too big in the waist (even with most pants having an adjustable waist), but all the size 4's are too short in the legs. I told him today that we were not coming home without shorts for him (at least 2 pairs) and pajamas for Gresham. Well, that turned out to be a lie, because we returned $127 worth of clothing that I had ordered online that didn't fit, and came home with nothing.

It's not all our fault, though. If you have been shopping lately for little boys clothing, you will notice that it comes in four categories:

1. Surfer dude
2. Skater dude
3. Character clothing (like Spider Man, Sponge Bob, and all my other favorites)
4. Hick (this category mostly encompasses t-shirts - with monster trucks, dinosaurs eating people, and shirts with cute sayings like, "I'm a brat and I love it")

Even Gap, the land of prep, is not exempt from this problem. Pajamas in Gresham's size came with pirate themes (I just couldn't buy skull and crossbone jammies for my baby!), and another style that said "I love chicks" and had little pictures of baby chickens on them. Nice.

Also, most clothing, especially in the skater dude and surfer dude categories, comes with a lot of "pre-ripping." I don't need pre-ripping. Or pre-staining. I have boys that will take care of that. I need affordable clothing that will last through two boys! We saw some shorts at Target that came with paint splatters on them. That's the kind of clothing that we deem unacceptable even to donate to Goodwill, and we turn them into dust cloths or throw them out! Now, I'm all for my children looking "hip," but I just can't spend money on clothes that are already worn out.

J.C. Penney was having a great sale today, but they were out of size 5 in almost every style. There were lots of 6's and 7's. We found some blue athletic shorts that fit, but the shirts that went with them started in size 8. What's up with that??

So..... maybe we'll wear jeans all summer. Or wear the same two pairs of shorts that Aidan has over and over and over. We'll figure it out another day...