Picture this

Today is picture day at Mark's school. That, combined with the wet, rainy weather, has me a little worried.

Mark, of course, is thrilled. For him, it's a free dress day, which meant he immediately picked out his rattiest t-shirt and shorts to wear to school. I explained that yes, technically it is a uniform-free day, but the whole point is to wear nice clothes for the photos. That took the shine off of free dress day.

I actually thought picture day was on Wednesday, and I was planning to take him shopping tonight. So I panicked a bit about his wardrobe, which consists entirely of school uniforms, faded t-shirts and bloody skull-and-snake shirts, none of which I deemed appropriate to wear to school, let alone capture on film forever.

Instead, I braved his messy closet. He has some nice dress shirts I bought for our Alaskan cruise, but I knew there was no chance in hell he would wear a dress shirt and tie to school. (Might as well tell him to wear a "Please Beat Me Up" sign instead.)

But I found the next best thing -- a semi-dressy blue shirt. It had a Tony Hawk label, so I knew I could sell him halfway on that alone, but I needed some big guns to really clinch the deal.

"You can wear your blue Tony Hawk shirt," I said casually, and he disappeared without an answer. He reappeared moments later carrying a faded striped shirt that's seen better days.

"I'll wear this Tony Hawk shirt!" he said, happily.

I pointed out it was faded, which didn't bother him, and that he'd already been photographed in it before, which he hadn't (I'm not above lying to get a good school picture!). Finally, I just shrugged and said, "Well, it's pretty wrinkled," and he tossed in in the closet, disgusted. That kid hates wrinkles!

I let him toss out a few more suggestions before I returned to the blue shirt. He nixed it, and suggested some different t-shirts. I played along, negotiating back and forth, until I sensed the time was right to show all my cards.

"Tell ya what," I said slowly. "That blue shirt would look really good with your skinny jeans. If you wear the shirt, you can also wear the skinny jeans."

And we had a deal! Mark smiled, because he got to wear his beloved skinny jeans, and I smiled because I'd convinced him to wear the only nice shirt he has. I considered it a win on both sides.

Of course, there's no guarantee that his nice clothes will stay nice until his photo session. He regularly uses his shirt as a napkin at lunch. And there was just enough rain last night to mess up the playground, and potentially Mark's shirt (he comes home filthy every day). So I'm praying he'll be photographed before recess and lunch, before he has a chance to dirty himself up.

I also agreed he could pack an extra t-shirt -- I didn't want him to ruin his blue shirt wearing it all day at school. However, that was a gamble, because there's a 50-50 chance he'll wear it for his photo instead of the blue shirt.

Lots to worry about until I get those photos into my hands...