Dressing Baby: The Battle of Two Mommies

I love my mom. What I don't love, some of the time, is how she wants to dress my baby. Up until a week ago, I had not purchased a single item of clothing for my almost 8-week-old daughter, Little D. Thanks to hand-me-downs, baby shower presents and a continuing influx of gifts, she is pretty much set through the end of the year. Pretty cool, right? (D's diapers are covered for another 4 months, too.) The only reason I purchased two long-sleeve onesies recently was because I forgot to pack them for our road trip to chillier San Francisco. 20 percent of my daughter's wardrobe comes care of two mommies in my life: my mom and my sister, Tricia. Now that's a pretty sizable stake in D's wardrobe. With that stake and the fact that my mom babysits D a few days a week, come significant dressing baby rights. My mom, who has three daughters (I'm the middle one), is very adamant about D being a girly girl. (She had our ears pierced as newborns.) When she's come over to find baby in clothes that are slightly or outright "boyish" by her standards - pretty much anything that doesn't have pink or flowers on it - I'm greeted by a nasty frown. She'll then proceed to either give the outfit a girly touch by adding a headband or clip to D's hair, or she'll slyly change D into a completely new outfit during a diaper change. It's become a point of amusement for my husband and me. At times I'll intentionally dress D in clothes I know that will upset my mom (I really haven't grown up since high school, have I?) just to see how she'll find a quick and justifiable way to get D out of them. Will Mom say baby is too hot or too cold? Will she "forget" to put a bib on D so she spits up all over her outfit? Or will Mom continue to buy tons of cutesy clothes to outnumber the gender-neutral and boyish ones, making her odds of being greeted with D in a girly outfit better?

But more and more, I see how much my little girl lights up when she sees my mom, and how lovingly my mom talks to and touches her granddaughter. I feel so grateful and I'm so moved that the two of them have this incredible bond. And more and more, I find myself pulling from that girly section of clothes in D's drawer when I dress her before my mom comes over, even occasionally putting a frilly headband on her as well, because our home is no place for frowning. And, you know what? Pink's not that bad, especially when it's hot.