The Case of the Confused Underwear

Last night Gregory laid out his morning sport pants and shirt but forgot about the underwear. I reminded him but my language (undershirt/underpants) did not help so I told him we would take care of it in the morning. I knew I would be in for a "fun filled" morning but I was too tired to manage the underwear right then.

Sure enough when I woke, he was in his morning sport clothes but knew something was wrong. Without having to be asked I said, "You need underpants and an undershirt." Immediately he realized what was needed so he returned to the closet where he got out a pair of underpants and took off his sport shirt. Did you catch the subtlety of what happened?

Next, he attempted to put on his underpants over the sport pants, stopped foot in mid air and realized something was wrong and stopped. He looked at the under pants to make sure the were facing the correct directions (i.e. fly in the front?) and tried again, sport pants still on. He did this approximately six times. FInally he came into the bedroom, underpants in hand.

He knew I was available but didn't ask for help so I kept quiet. He tried the "underpants over sport pants" routine again several times and stopped. He put the underpants on the floor and said aloud to himself, "Just put them on. Just put them on."

Then it came clear to him (I could see the Ah-Ha!) and he took off his sport pants, put on his underpants (backwards but corrected with my comment,) then put on his sport pants ... all in the correct order. He was amazed that it had been so confusing and so obvious.

With a reminder that he still needed to put on an undershirt, he was able to follow through without any complications. In the past I would have jumped in and given instructions. This time, although painful probably for both of us, for the most part I kept quiet. I had to weigh his frustrations against his finally asking for help, against when I needed to intervene. Not an easy job.