Losing My Cool

So, Q’s only five and it’s happening already, I’m not that cool anymore. I thought I had at least until he was about 9ish, but I guess the start of elementary school has a lot to do with it. He’s realizing there are a lot more options out there than the ones I put in front of him. Up until now, I got to pick out his wardrobe. There aren’t a lot of options for boys clothing most involve hokey trucks or sports equipment, but I was able to get to this point without putting him in cooky toddler boy gear. He ended up in a lot stripes and plaid, but I’ll take the lack of variety over monster truck shirts that say vroom vroom any day.
Q and I were shopping a couple of weeks ago and he asked if he could buy a shirt. I showed him a couple of cute options and was told “those shirts aren’t very cool mommy, I wanted to buy a cool shirt.” So in the middle of Nordstrom Rack we had a blank stare stare down for a good thirty seconds. I was speechless, staring at him thinking my five year old is already looking at me like I have no clue. And he was speechless, staring at me. I have no doubt that his thoughts were somewhere along the lines of my mom has no idea what cool is.
Later on that day, he also found some star wars light up shoes. I’m not a fan. I just wanted him to get some black slip on vans, so I told him the lights are probably a little too distracting to wear in class. It kills me that the five year old that thinks the star wars light up shoes are the way to go is the kid that thinks I’m not cool. After some thinking, I caved, I’m getting him the star wars shoes for Christmas. Cookey wardrobe decisions aren’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but it’s still painful to witness. And the real bummer is knowing that this is just the beginning. He’s starting to make his own decisions, some I will approve of and some I will not. I’m working on being grateful that he still shops with me.