Another milestone
This weekend I was out with my children for a leisurely Saturday morning shopping trip—yes, indeed I did say leisurely. (The secret is to buy them a bag of popcorn and a drink for $1.) I loaded my amply bribed children into the shiny, red, oversized shopping cart and began to amble through the aisles of merchandise. We maneuvered along the freshly polished, gleaming tiles, bypassing many tempting mommy-esque departments (namely, handbags, and the women’s clothing department) to attempt our first objective: buy the toddler a new pair of shoes.
Children’s shoe shopping, for me, is a real chore. I am super picky about the shoes that I allow my children to wear. Clothes, I buy new on-sale or second hand without any problem—I like to save money like anyone else. Shoes, on the other hand, are something else. You only get one set of feet and your feet are the foundation of your body. So, shoes need to be decent quality or I don’t buy them. In fact, I may buy myself cheap shoes from that nation-wide cheap-shoe retailer that advertises “BOGO” all the time, but for the kids, I generally wind up in a honest-to-goodness old-time shoe store, or a higher end shop like Nordstrom—they are the only places I find the quality I want for my kids. In other words, I will often get stabbed with paying $40-60 on one pair of shoes for my two-year-old, whereas I spend $15 (after hemming and hawing whether or not to waste the money) on shoes for myself.
This particular shopping trip I decided I’d give the inexpensive retailer a shot, to find Chubb-chub some shoes. I’d already struck-out at two other stores, so I figured what’s one more before heading to Nordies? I hit pay dirt, almost immediately. A decent pair of shoes that actually wound up being made by the Buster Brown Company. Chub was happy with the pictures and lights on the shoes, I was happy with the quality (and price!). We were doing well.
So, since the little girls’ and boys’ section was just ‘round the corner from shoes, I thought I’d peruse the selection and see if there were any good deals. There were.
This is where the story gets good.
I have shopped in the baby-toddler section, exclusively, since having children. My daughter has never fit into the ‘age/size’ that she should—ever. For instance, she was 2 years old and could still easily wear a size 12 months pair of shorts, with room to grow. She has never been, for example, 3 years old in a size 3T.
Things have been changing.
Peanut is still painfully skinny, but she is so tall now that I can’t squeeze her into ‘baby’ clothes so that they fit. Now, I have to find adjustable waist pants to fit her in the waist and length (usually means I wind up at Gap or if I’m lucky Old Navy—either way, more money than I want to spend). On this particular shopping trip I found one pair of pants, with adjustable waist on a clearance rack. Oh, happy, lucky day. So we continued on.
As the children happily munched on their ‘snack’ I wheeled us around the rest of the store. I was content meandering and ‘window shopping’ and they were pleased to be along for the ride (secretly, I think they were in some sort of preservative-induced trance from the movie theater-style popcorn they were eating—but, I’m not complaining!). As we cruised toward the registers we passed the ‘big girls’ section—elementary age girls’ sizes. I always look at what retailers try to pass off as ‘little girls’ clothes—more often with disgust than anything (Why are we trying to dress them like hootchies? Can someone please tell me?) As I am making my mental critique of what I think is darling and what I think is downright inappropriate I notice the sign says “Sizes 4-6x”. Size 4? If they have adjustable waist…I bet Peanut could wear it!
As it turned out, they had size 4 SLIM with Adjustable waist jeans on sale. I parked the cart next to the rack and slipped a pair of the pants over Peanut’s leotard (she had to wear her Gymnastics uniform to shop…). Hallelujah! They fit! And, they fit her really well. Most of the time the legs/seat are so baggy that she looks like…well…a bag lady. The SLIM jeans fit her perfectly. All we had to do was cinch in the wait a bit, and presto! My little girl is no longer shopping in the baby/toddler section.
My baby is no longer a baby. She really is becoming a big girl.
After the checker handed me our purchases and I was walking to the car, one child in each hand, it completely struck me: we’ve passed a brand-new milestone. Peanut is shopping in the big-girl section.
How quickly they grow up and these milestones sneak up on us. My baby really is becoming the ‘big girl’ we tell her she is.
This weekend I was out with my children for a leisurely Saturday morning shopping trip—yes, indeed I did say leisurely. (The secret is to buy them a bag of popcorn and a drink for $1.) I loaded my amply bribed children into the shiny, red, oversized shopping cart and began to amble through the aisles of merchandise. We maneuvered along the freshly polished, gleaming tiles, bypassing many tempting mommy-esque departments (namely, handbags, and the women’s clothing department) to attempt our first objective: buy the toddler a new pair of shoes.
Children’s shoe shopping, for me, is a real chore. I am super picky about the shoes that I allow my children to wear. Clothes, I buy new on-sale or second hand without any problem—I like to save money like anyone else. Shoes, on the other hand, are something else. You only get one set of feet and your feet are the foundation of your body. So, shoes need to be decent quality or I don’t buy them. In fact, I may buy myself cheap shoes from that nation-wide cheap-shoe retailer that advertises “BOGO” all the time, but for the kids, I generally wind up in a honest-to-goodness old-time shoe store, or a higher end shop like Nordstrom—they are the only places I find the quality I want for my kids. In other words, I will often get stabbed with paying $40-60 on one pair of shoes for my two-year-old, whereas I spend $15 (after hemming and hawing whether or not to waste the money) on shoes for myself.
This particular shopping trip I decided I’d give the inexpensive retailer a shot, to find Chubb-chub some shoes. I’d already struck-out at two other stores, so I figured what’s one more before heading to Nordies? I hit pay dirt, almost immediately. A decent pair of shoes that actually wound up being made by the Buster Brown Company. Chub was happy with the pictures and lights on the shoes, I was happy with the quality (and price!). We were doing well.
So, since the little girls’ and boys’ section was just ‘round the corner from shoes, I thought I’d peruse the selection and see if there were any good deals. There were.
This is where the story gets good.
I have shopped in the baby-toddler section, exclusively, since having children. My daughter has never fit into the ‘age/size’ that she should—ever. For instance, she was 2 years old and could still easily wear a size 12 months pair of shorts, with room to grow. She has never been, for example, 3 years old in a size 3T.
Things have been changing.
Peanut is still painfully skinny, but she is so tall now that I can’t squeeze her into ‘baby’ clothes so that they fit. Now, I have to find adjustable waist pants to fit her in the waist and length (usually means I wind up at Gap or if I’m lucky Old Navy—either way, more money than I want to spend). On this particular shopping trip I found one pair of pants, with adjustable waist on a clearance rack. Oh, happy, lucky day. So we continued on.
As the children happily munched on their ‘snack’ I wheeled us around the rest of the store. I was content meandering and ‘window shopping’ and they were pleased to be along for the ride (secretly, I think they were in some sort of preservative-induced trance from the movie theater-style popcorn they were eating—but, I’m not complaining!). As we cruised toward the registers we passed the ‘big girls’ section—elementary age girls’ sizes. I always look at what retailers try to pass off as ‘little girls’ clothes—more often with disgust than anything (Why are we trying to dress them like hootchies? Can someone please tell me?) As I am making my mental critique of what I think is darling and what I think is downright inappropriate I notice the sign says “Sizes 4-6x”. Size 4? If they have adjustable waist…I bet Peanut could wear it!
As it turned out, they had size 4 SLIM with Adjustable waist jeans on sale. I parked the cart next to the rack and slipped a pair of the pants over Peanut’s leotard (she had to wear her Gymnastics uniform to shop…). Hallelujah! They fit! And, they fit her really well. Most of the time the legs/seat are so baggy that she looks like…well…a bag lady. The SLIM jeans fit her perfectly. All we had to do was cinch in the wait a bit, and presto! My little girl is no longer shopping in the baby/toddler section.
My baby is no longer a baby. She really is becoming a big girl.
After the checker handed me our purchases and I was walking to the car, one child in each hand, it completely struck me: we’ve passed a brand-new milestone. Peanut is shopping in the big-girl section.
How quickly they grow up and these milestones sneak up on us. My baby really is becoming the ‘big girl’ we tell her she is.
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