Long and Lean

When he was born, ClayGuy was a good-sized baby, weighing in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces. But ever since he moved into toddlerhood, he leaned out. Some of it might be due to his exceeding pickiness in eating. And the fact that he's been known to eat no more than a robin. But finding pants for this kid has been interesting, to say the least.

When he was a toddler, I would have to return sweats because they didn't fit around him when the legs were the right length. As in, they wouldn't be stretched in the least, but they wouldn't touch his middle all the way around. So they could just sort of slide down. Before being potty trained. Go figure.

It got easier when he was a boy. Then I had the slim option. That worked well for a few years.

But about three years ago or so, he moved into man-sized pants. Which seems like it would be a wonderful phase. After all, you get to purchase pants in specific waist-length combinations. Makes total sense, right?

Not so much.

Why in the world do the majority of retail stores think you either have to be short if you have a smaller waist or you need to be heavier if your legs are long? What about the long-legged, slim-waisted young men of our nation? Even the hip young dude department was no help.

I did finally discover that Sears carries a more diverse range of Lee jeans. Slim waists and long legs. So for the past couple of years, that has worked out well.

Now it seems he wants to expand his attire just a bit. Mere jeans won't cut it. Oh sure, he has to have a couple of pairs. Who doesn't? But now he wants some cargo pants. And maybe some Dockers. Goodness.

A couple of weeks ago, Lucy & I were shopping for some new pants for our best-friend-long-legged-slim-waisted boys young men. We made our way to Penney's and they had a WALL FULL OF JEANS. This looked promising. Not entirely sure of the size, as they might have actually grown in the waist at some point when we weren't looking, we were trying to find some 30/34s or 31/34s. (Ironically, I now see that there IS a pair of 30/34s in the pic above! That doesn't go far to prove my point, now, does it?) We somehow managed to locate ONE pair of 30/34s and decided to try a pair of (gasp!) 32/34s. Mainly because ClayGuy's old 30-waist jeans were too tight.

Well, we got home, had the guys try them on and came to a wonderful discovery. Even though both of them are nearly 6' tall, one has a longer torso while the other has longer legs. It turns out that ClayGuy has the longer legs and his waist has grown slightly. He can wear 32/34s. Hallelujah! A size that is actually available on a regular basis!! As for Lucy's son (Pi Guy) - his legs aren't as long, meaning he can go with a 32 length pant. And yes, you can actually find 30/32s quite easily, too.

What an amazingly glorious day it was!

{Even if I didn't get a picture of them standing together in all their tallness. I will though. Count on it.}

I promptly went back to Penney's the next week and got two more pair of jeans for these guys. We still have to get some Dockers or some such thing, but a whole new world has opened up to us in our pants shopping endeavors. Other stores, other styles, other options galore.

And there was much rejoicing!