no sleeves, please

I recently revealed to you my addiction.  Well, it only seems fair that I share with you the fact that my daughter is also an addict.

Natalie is addicted to dress-up clothes and tank tops.

When we leave the house for a playdate or errand, I don't allow her to wear dress-up clothes ... because once you start there is no turning back, she has a very cute wardrobe that already gets limited wearing, and clearly I am the meanest mom in the whole wide world.  Honestly, she is totally fine with it - being in plain clothes only ever bothers her if she spots another little girl - where ever we are - who happens to be wearing dress-up clothes.  That situation can send her into a tailspin with a quickness.  Thankfully there are far more "mean" mothers in this world.  For the past few months, I have also been refusing to let Natalie wear a tank top outside of the house ... because it's WINTER in the NW, for goodness sake!  Tank tops are for the summer.  Several times each week, Natalie asks me if it is summer yet.   Poor thing - we only get about six weeks of summer around here!

Since dress-up clothes and tank tops are off limits outside the house, Natalie takes off her clothes and changes into her princess outfit AS SOON AS we walk in the door.  I'm talking trail of clothes up the stairs - like some scene from a racy movie or something!  Once she is transformed, she is glowing with happiness.

Santa brought her four new princess dresses - but none of them are "tank tops."  Those four dresses have gotten minimal wear; instead she chooses the same tank top options time and time again.

Here's a look at her favorites:

A hand-me-down from cousins Caroline and Emily, this - according to Natalie - is Ariel's briding dress.  It reminds me of old school Madonna. I must admit to hiding it on occasion.  The tulle skirt is shredded to almost nothing.  She uses a wadded up scarf as her bouquet.  The socks and Crocs are so bad!

This is Natalie in the Rapunzel dress she wanted for Christmas.  When she first put it on, pure joy - look at that face.  Then she realized it has sleeves, and it hasn't been worn again since.

The pink, sequin leotard is another hand-me-down from cousins.  She would wear this every single day.  The skirt was made by my super talented friend Carrie ... it's the only "dress-up" clothes that Natalie is allowed to wear out of the house - as long as she wears leggings underneath.

This is Natalie's BJ_Mama dress - that's exactly what she calls it.  "Hey, mommy, look. I'm wearing my BJ_Mama dress!"  It was made from a tank top and could not be more perfect in Natalie's eyes (or mine for that matter).

Oh, this darn Ariel nightgown.  It was a birthday gift from Mimi for Natalie's 3rd birthday.  It was the ONLY thing she would wear to bed for six solid months.  Grammy sent her a trio of princesses replacement - but it had sleeves, so I had to cut them off.  And Mimi just sent a new Tinker Bell "nightie" which met Natalie's approval.

Just this week I made another effort to get some of those beautiful princess dresses - the ones with sleeves - off the rack and onto her body.  I tied ribbons around the sleeve material to make it seem more like a tank top.  Can't you just see the skepticism on her face?  Yeah, that didn't last long. The Cinderella dress went right back on the hook, and Natalie put on some random outfit consisting of a sleeveless leotard and a blue jean skirt!

Should I be concerned about what she'll want to wear as a teenager?!  Heaven help me!