Alan and clothes

So amongst his other challenges, Alan has some fine motor issues that make dressing him a challenge.  He is incapable of buttoning or snapping his fly and he cannot tie shoes.  Both problems are workable to some degree.

I always buy him pants with an elastic waist.  This was much easier when he was little.  When he got into "big boy" sizes, it was harder, but still doable.  I would order them from Land's End or similar and while they were pricey, they had reinforced knees and were generally pretty sturdy.  Now, unfortunately, he is in Men's sizes and trying to find pants with an elastic waist is more than a bit of a challenge. 

At Christmas my sister found a store that specialized in clothing for the elderly (especially nursing homes) and some elderly patients also desire pants with an elastic waist so we finally had a source of pants for Alan.  She got him a few pairs, but I guessed wrong in the size and they are way too long for him.  So a few weeks back, I ordered three new pair of these pants in the size he wears now.  I waited an eternity (it seemed) for the pants to show up but they finally did yesterday.  I put Alan in one of the brand new pants today and he comes home from school with a note that he ripped his pants today and ruined them.

What makes this extra frustrating is that it is the FOURTH pair of pants he has ripped in the last 10 days.  And I'm not talking about a small tear in the knee that could be patched.  When he rips a pair of pants it is generally from crotch to ankle.  So from here on out, my child will wear nothing but sweats because he won't stop climbing and we will be broke if we have to keep buying pants at this rate!

 I used to think shoes were annoying.  He wears out a pair of tennis shoes in less than a month.  I have been known to buy three pair at the same time.  Sometimes for variety, his OCD makes him pull at the sole until it comes off.  Yes, I have been known to try to fix them.  Here was a pair that he had worn for the first time the end of January and the sole came home in his backpack instead of attached to the shoe.  So in desperation I tried to glue the sole back on.  It seems to be attached but we moved to a spare pair in the meantime.  It will take another few weeks until those are trashed enough to need replacing.  Who knows if my patch job will hold up or not.

Sigh.  This kid drives me crazy at times!!