Have you ever let her see herself in a mirror with the outfit on her head? It may just be that she doesnt’ want something on her head. Will she wear any sort of cap or hat? Put her in front of a mirror while you play with the outfit putting it on your own heads and then on her head. I’m wondering if she doesn’t like it on her head because she can no longer see it when it is on her head.
She may not even be associating it with being on her head. She just knows it is there and then, boom, it is out of sight, it disappears and then she feels something on her head and doesn’t like the game any longer. “Hey what happened to that cute froggy. What the heck is on my head? Waaaa.”
Children learn so much from infancy to two years old. Rolling over, sitting up, pulling up, crawling, walking, talking, different motor skills, hand-eye coordination, holding their own spoon, holding their own bottle, using a sippy cup, going to the potty, communication, laughter…it is all part of independence. Who knows what happens in her mind when you take the frog and put it on her head. Maybe she thinks, “Dammit, just as soon as I start trying to get those eyes off, they put the stupid frog on my head where I can’t see it.”
For Christmas, my at the time 19 month old granddaughter got one of those beauitul chests with dress-up outfits. She really didn’t have any interest in it until this past month. Her Mom was telling me how she’d put on an “outfit” and if anyone said anything about the outfit, (like, “Oh, that is so pretty.” or “Oh, are you a cowboy?” “I like your hat.”) Whatever you say regarding the outfit, she proceeded to scream, “NOooooo.” and hit the floor struggling to get the outfit off NOW. If you mention the outfit, she wants it off immediately.
Go figure. Who knows why she is doing that. I think she is just experimenting with control and it is a form of expressing independence and her own opinions.