Our second placement loved to play dress-up. We bought a case of dress-up clothes so she could do just that. The case holds skirts, shoes, sleeves, and a veil. The case is a pretty pink with a carry handle. She was interested in dressing up much younger than Jessie.
Dressing oneself is one of the markers that ECI in our area uses to assess a child’s development. Jessie does not put on her own clothes. She has, however, been taking them off for months. We never know what part of each day will have her running out to us without her clothes and missing her diaper.
Jessie finally discovered the box of dress-up clothes. At first she was interested only in the pink straw hat. She’d empty the box every time she got it out and that was about her version of playing with the clothes inside. Then she started wearing the shoes around the house.
Jessie loves tutus. She will say tutu and put one on herself. She has a set of jammies with a tutu and an outfit with a tutu. She’ll add the tutu to any outfit because it makes her happy. She’s been asking to wear her bathing suit because it has a tutu sewn on.
I have been working with Jessie to choose her own clothes and put them on herself. She works very hard at putting pants and shorts on, but ends up with both legs in one leg hole. She hasn’t tried to put her own shirt on. She now goes to her closet and picks out what she wants to wear.
She chose to wear her Christmas dress to bake cookies and go to Gymboree. She pulled out her Texas A&M cheerleader outfit to go shopping. She wore another party dress to hang out around the house. Grandma says she needs more costumes.
Does your toddler dress herself?