Clothing Overhaul Didn’t Include the Overalls

Before hitting the mall in order to take advantage of Maryland’s tax-free week on clothing, I spent some time hoeing out the kids’ drawers to see what would fit for fall and what should be relegated to the attic.

I now have four large formerly empty Pampers Cruisers boxes stacked in the upstairs hallway, just below the trapdoor in the ceiling. They’ll join I don’t know how many identical old diaper boxes full of too-small baby clothes awaiting mythical future babies—most likely not my own—in which case any nieces and nephews who come along will never have to worry about their wardrobes. I’ve got an array of clothes for both genders from infant through toddlerhood, eager to see daylight and drool once again.

I spent an hour sizing up leggings and jeans, sweaters and long-sleeved T-shirts, some plain, some adorned with doggies and dinosaurs or plaids and stripes. I tucked away fleece footy jammies that would have rendered my children into sausages had I attempted to zip them in for one more winter night. And I held onto nearly every pair of socks—funny how the cheapest graying items seem to have the longest shelf life. There’s no shaking those $1 per pair Circo socks from Target.

But there was one too-small item of clothing that I couldn’t bear to fold away forever. Even though neither of my children could squeeze so much as a big toe into them, even though for that reason it is completely irrational to keep them around, I couldn’t bring myself to box them up. No, the blue corduroy overalls won’t be making the trip into the attic.

I don’t remember how they came to be so precious, but the faded blue overalls with the little white owl on the chest have been a favorite since my daughter was around 10 months old. They were a hand-me-down from a friend whose daughter had been born two winters before my own winter-born daughter, Lucy, so the sizing of her castoffs lined up perfectly with the seasons.

There is something about the way these simple overalls celebrate a pre-walking baby’s juicy thighs. It has to do with the combination of warmth and squish I would feel when cuddling first Lucy, and two years later, Isaac, when they were wearing these particular pants on a crisp fall or winter day. (I’m pretty sure they are girls’ pants, but they looked gender neutral enough to me to put them on Ike with no second thoughts.)

Worn over and over by both kids, I’m sure they’ve been washed hundreds of times, making them softer with each fluff and fold. When they were back on one of my babies, I couldn’t help but pet them and squeeze them and savor how great and warm and toasty they felt, and how that moment in particular made me glad to be a mom.

So to realize that both kids have outgrown the size 12-18 months pants is bittersweet. Lucy at 3 ½ has long since stretched out, transforming from the softness of a baby into the lean springiness of a preschooler. Isaac still has plump, creamy thighs, but I know the flub is fleeting. As soon as he figures out how to walk, he’ll go the way of his sister and the baby chub will melt away. I suppose that one day I’ll be able to let go of the corduroys and pass them on to another child, just as they were once passed to Lucy.

But for now, they’ll linger in Isaac’s drawer as the one ill-fitting item that survived tax-free week.