Anywhoo, when getting ready for the event, my youngest became pretty jealous that big brother had a necktie. I'd found a clip-on tie for Henry a couple of weeks prior and hadn't thought to pick up a 2nd one for Eddie. (Seriously, did I just become a mother of 2 children yesterday?) As it was, both boys were sort of donning thrown-together "dress-up" outfits. Eddie's was comprised of a hand-me-down plaid shirt of Henry's, a pair of skinny jeans and his adorable Chuck's canvas sneakers. They were the nicest and cleanest shoes he had that I could find. Henry was wearing the dress-shirt that came with the clip-on tie for a bargain price ($10 for the shirt, tie and a rather unattractive vest and pants combo that were both surprisingly too big even tho the shirt fit and tie was actually much too short????) He was also wearing a very nice pair of dress pants that we bought for him to wear to a funeral a year ago. And in the world of a 3 year old, a year ago means a SIZE ago. I could barely get them buttoned and they were a smidge too short. He also wore his Chuck's sneakers and I thot they were precious and cute but also wished the boys had some nicer dress shoes.
When Eddie's tantrum required that I figure out some kind of necktie solution, my husband said, "Just cut him a strip of fabric and I'll tie it like a tie." I thought it was absolutely genius for my very non-crafty hubby to even remember that I *HAVE* a closet full of fabric, but for some reason his instructions were misinterpreted in my head and I ran downstairs and cut a necktie SHAPE out of felt. The felt was good. We only had about 10 minutes and I wasn't going to be hemming up frayed edges of regular fabric. But I should have cut strings for the tie to be tied around Eddie's neck. What I did was cut the tie shape and then safety pin it to the top of his buttoned shirt. But when he got tired of it he gave it a huge yank and the pin popped open and I was afraid he'd poke himself before I could get it out of his shirt.
He loves the tie, though, and brings it to me almost every day to be pinned onto whatever jammies or t-shirt or sweater he's wearing. I'm thinking of adding strings or velcro or a resin snap or SOMETHING to make it safer when he tires of it.
