Pants are easy, if you're a toddler. You just grab them on both sides and pull down with all your might. Even completely soggy, urine-soaked or soiled pants can be shimmied off little damp legs. Trust me, it is so.
Shirts however, are a whole different animal. there are four openings instead of three and the two that are the arm parts need to be addressed in a certain direction. For instance, both of my children were great at doing, "Jane of the Jungle" as I liked to call it, for a while. They knew they needed to get the arm out, but they sent the arm up, through the neck hole, instead of down through the torso hole. Once you start going in that direction it gets tighter and tighter as you try to get your entire body out through the neck opening. Usually, complaints of, "I need help" are soon to follow.
I've been trying to give my children lessons on holding the sleeve with one hand and pulling the arm out and down. I don't know if it's easier with long shirts or short-sleeved shirts, but now that spring has arrived, we are starting to see more success in the shirt-removal arena.
A child who can get all their clothes off by themselves--when they want to--is a happy child.
The Big Boy Update: My son tried mightily to get his head and both arms through the neck opening in his shirts enough times that I would see it coming and say, "arms go down" in the hopes of helping prevent another stuck shirt situation. He's got it now...for the most part.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: She got the shirt removal steps faster than her brother. However, she was much cuter as "Jane of the Jungle" than he managed to be.
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