Kid Couture Tomorrow we leave for a long weekend in Tampa. The main event being a Tampa Bay Lightning game. We paid for most of the trip months ago, so it is nice to take this weekend away from the job stress without worrying how it impacts our budget.

Anyway, I have spent far more time preparing and packing my dear son's wardrobe than my own. Mixing and matching all the cute little t-shirts with the shorts that best capture the spirit I am looking for. Please. They are t-shirts and shorts. You do not accessorize little boys. There isn't even the pressure of matching the socks.

Basically boys clothes fall into 3 major themes:

• Vehicles - anything that could also be a matchbox car is eligible for boys clothing, including firetrucks, cars, airplanes, boats, frontloaders


• The Outdoors - usually cuddly animals like lizards, insects, wolves, sharks, and snakes -OR- themes like camping and exploring.


• Sports - baseball seems to big favorite, but you can expect to see surfing, basketball, fishing, football, skateboarding, or even billards. Even the notion of sportiness is popular with shirts featuring the word "Varsity" or just a big number as if on a jersey.

This all drives me bananas. My son likes puppies. He likes butterflies and flowers...and he likes colors. Boys clothes are generally limited to 3 major colors - red, blue, and heather gray. I constantly survey the girl's section for anything I could easily unembellish enough to make gender neutral just so he could wear yellow, purple, or aqua. Inevitably, if I do find a fun color, it's a polo shirt. I'm not a huge fan of polo shirts, and neither is my dear son, but I have been able to find them for boys in hot pink and lavender!

Well, time to finish packing! How ever will I choose between the blue lizard t-shirt and the gray lizard t-shirt? For the record, my boy doesn't really care.  ¶ 21:35