Cameron, Cameron, Cameron...

Every day. E-V-E-R-Y D-A-Y. Every day Andrew and I tell Cameron not to tuck his shirt in really tight and pull his pants up to his sternum. We're just trying to do the kid a favor. He really likes to feel nice and secure in his pants, so his yanks them up as far as he can and then cinches them up with a belt so that his waist measures less than 10 inches. Meanwhile, his shirt is tucked in as far as possible, and the end result is him looking like he has 6 feet of leg and 1 or 2 inches of torso. We tell him it looks dorky the way he does it; he does not care. We tell him that guys look nice with their pants riding just at their hips; he'd rather not. We explain to him the kind of shirts you tuck in and the kind you leave out; he has no desire to conform. However!... The last few days I thought we had been making progress. He left the house for school yesterday looking like a normal child. Today I dropped him off for school feeling like we had finally hurdled this ridiculous issue, but as I drove away, I saw Cameron walking towards his classroom furiously shoving his shirt down into his shorts, and when he had accomplished the task he put his hands into his pockets and smiled. I think that inside his pockets, his hands must have been resting on his rib cage. I just had to laugh. I may have a child who prefers to dress like a dweeb, but it's better than having a child who stashes gothic make-up and dog collars into his backpack to put on at school. We'll just hope he grows out of it before Jr. High and pray that the way he sports his pants doesn't interfere with his ability to have children in the future.