James and pants
James is exceedingly hard to fit clothes for. First of all, he's a seven year old boy, and they're about as prone to want to try on clothes as housecats are likely to like having their claws trimmed or their coats dematted. Secondly, he's a difficult size. He put on some girth this summer, so he's very big in the waist but hasn't sprouted upward in leg and arm length yet.
Getting him a size 10 or 12 in regularly-fitting clothes simply doesn't fit -- either the waist is too tight or the legs are far too long. What's more, he prefers roomy athletic pants to dungarees or trousers, and they're usually made of nylon, spandex, or other material that's nothing short of a gigantic pain in the ass to alter.
So we took him shopping today and went up to the Faunce Corner outlet mall in nearby N. Dartmouth. Vanity Fair has an outlet store there, and it was there that we were able to find a plenitude of Lee jeans (with snap buttons on the waist, which he finds acceptable) and even a pair of cargo pants, all size 10 Husky, which fit him remarkably well.
I'm glad to finally get him some pants -- he's been making do with his summer wardrobe up to now, but the weather is getting more fall like, and it's no longer acceptable to send him to school in shorts.