So, it's World Book Day. Yippee, jump for joy. Dressing up - just what a child with sensory issues needs.
Each year so far, I have let dd2 dress in whatever she wanted, and then foiund a book to tie in with what she wanted to wear (thank heavens for a houseful of books 
)
Yesterday, I picked her up from school, and she excitedly announced she wanted to wear a particular t shirt today (combing her class topic with WBD). great. so far so good.
BUT, she wanted to dress as a giraffe. Also fine - I could muster up enough brown-ish clothes, and we have a few giraffe books/stories. It did mean wearing trousers though (no brown dress or skirt to be found).
The dressing routine this morning went as follows:
dd2 puts on first down-sleeve (ha! I mean long-sleeved, force of habit as dd2 refuses to call them anythign other than up-sleeve or down-sleeve ) t shirt. Surprisingly, it goes ok, and she is happy.
then her giraffe t shirt over the top. which means the down-sleeve t shirt doesn't sit right, isn't long enough at the waist, sleeves feel wrong, etc.
so we change it for another down-sleeve brown t shirt. that one isn't right because you can't see the flower at the neckline (why, WHY does this matter? it is only there for warmth, after all. But no, apparently if the flower is there, it shoudl be seen.)
So, back to the first t shirt. all well and good (ish)
Then, trousers on - they are joggers, with a drawstring waist. the drawstring should be in a bow. No, a knot. N wait, a bow. but she can't tie bows, so maybe a knot - it might come undone after all. but a knot might get too tight, so maybe back to a bow.
then the loops/ends of the bow don't sit straight. and her t shirt sticks out a bit where it comes over it, so maybe the other t shirt would be better after all.
finally, we get t shirts, trousers, socks (seams aren't right, but that is a dialy issue, so i barely flinch at that) and shoes on. then dd2 remembers - she's forgotten her vest! Disaster! (erm, not really, the school is heated to a billion degrees, she won't be cold, etc etc, but no. a vest must be worn)
SO. everything off, vest on. ok. but then - yep, you've guessed it, the t shirts feel funny (vest has scalloped edge). get her to wear it all again, and then she breaks down in tears. she's cold (wtf?). I remind her school is really warm, but she's adamant. she's cold.
eventually, through her tears, it transpires that her down-sleeve t shirt (which admittedly is getting a bit on the small side, but then she doens't like sleeves touching her wrists so has them turned back anyway, so slightly short sleeves is surely a bonus?) is leaving her wrists a bit cold. she is missing the extra weight/feel of sleeves turned back.
SO. everything off, while we find yet another down-sleeve t shirt which might work. except this brown t shirt (why the hell do I have so many brown t shirts, I hear oyu ask - well, dd2 is wearing clothes that range in age from 2 (yes, really!) to 5, so there's a few to choose from!) is a Christmas one. And had a sparkly sequin Christmas tree on it (see above for wrongness of covering t shirt decorations). so yet more cajoling and persuasion.
eventually I get her dressed, and relatively calm (thank god dd1 - you know, the actual autistic one!) has been a fecking saint thorugh all this.
breakfast goes ok, considering (more bow/knot issues, but we breeze through)
then, in the car on the way to school, I ask her which giraffe she has chosen to 'be' (she couldn't decide between two last night - Gerald from Giraffes can't dance, or another giraffe from a traditional African storybook we have)
dd2: I don't want to be a giraffe. I'm me. Gerald is a boy anyway. And I don't want everyone thinking I'm a boy. I don't want to. I'm not being anyone, I'm just wearing my giraffe t shirt.
me: patiently explains the concept of WBD 'dress as your favourite character'