The Nudist Colony

Maybe it’s the weather. It has been stiflingly hot and unusually humid (nearly 60 percent) So, perhaps the 100-degree heat is the problem too, but there hasn’t been a day recently that Natalie hasn’t suddenly and randomly ended up completely naked at some part during the day. It’s not like there’s any plan for it, she just does it when the mood strikes. Some times, after she goes to the bathroom, she forgets (or neglects) to put back on her underwear, and that’s usually where it starts. From there, I’ll find a sock here, a shoe there, maybe a pair of pants on the stairs or a shirt in the hallway, and then I’ll walk into my office and she’ll be sitting at the computer, as God created her, playing a game on Noggin or Playhouse Disney. “I’m working, Daddy.” Yes, yes you are, now let’s put on some underwear at least. “No,” and she’ll run off and hide, giggling all the way.

The other day, I was filling her big plastic alligator pool for an afternoon of swimming and splashing (see Kara’s blog for pictures), and Natalie joined me in the backyard to watch the water flow into the pool. She was excited to go swimming in the pool like she’s done many times so far this summer, and I look down… she had stripped off all her clothes and was running around the yard like a hippy, laughing and jumping as the sun reflected off her white bum. She seems to enjoy being nude; maybe she is enjoying a sense of freedom associated with going au natural or maybe she knows it bothers me.

Yesterday, I was in my office working (yes, I know, shocker!), and she runs into the room, bam, she’s completely naked. The funny part is that she strikes a pose, like she’s on some kind of anti-fashion catwalk. She turns to the side, puts her hand on her hip, looks over her shoulder and pushes out her butt, and the part that had me rolling was, as she did that, she annouces, “Heyyy heyyyyyyy” (The included picture is similar to the pose she assumes, but obviously, she’s wearing a dress this time).

So, I don’t know what to do, but when you come visit the house one day, and all of the sudden a little toddler runs through the room as naked as a jaybird laughing something about “hey hey hey, look at me, I’m a nudie bum,” just pretend you didn’t see it. No, we’re not starting a commune and no we’re not naturalists or hippies. We’re just regular folk raising a seemingly clothes optional child. I dearly hope it’s a phase. I mean, really, we've spent a lot of money on her clothes and I'd hate to see them go to waste. To be punny, I'd like to see them go to waist! Har, har.