Turns out I was more excited than Carley for back to school shopping. I planned a "family" date of shopping and lunch today, and excitedly told Carley yesterday that on Monday, we got to go back to school shopping! She would be thrilled, I thought. I know she's not a big fan of shopping, but this was a day when she was guaranteed to get something new...not just one thing, but lots of things. Her response..."BORING!"
Undeterred, I forged on with my quest to make this back to school shopping experience one she would love. Images of my first day of kindergarten, when I rocked a bright yellow shirt with a black and white checkered vest (don't hate, it was the 80's), swam through my head, as I imagined buying Carley that perfect first day of kindergarten outfit.
As we started clothes shopping, I quickly realized that stores have not gotten the news that Florida is stifling hot until about November, when it turns just hot. And then December through February it's a little less hot; then we have 2 moderate days and then it turns stifling hot again.
The stores are stocked with long sleeve shirts, corduroy pants, boots, fleece pajamas (really?) and puffy vests. I purchased every 3/4 length shirt I could find in Carter's, then proceeded to find jeans that we can roll up to be capris.
On to Rack Room Shoes, where I had envisioned buying Carley 2 pairs of shoes: one good pair of sneakers, and one fashion pair of sneakers...in this case, I had imagined a pink pair of sparkly Converse. She would love them! They have sequins on them, for goodness sake!
Little did I know, Carley had her sights set on "Twinkle Toes." These are some awful, light-up concoction of a shoe that Skechers has marketed to little girls. I have never heard of Twinkle Toes, but Carley sure has. She would not be happy without a pair of Twinkle Toes.
We left Rack Room without purchasing anything.
I don't really have anything against Twinkle Toes. Carley would love to wear them. So I gave myself a pep talk, reminding myself that this is for her and not me. And there is nothing doctrinally wrong with Twinkle Toe shoes. They seem sturdy. They will hold up through the playground and she may get several months of wear out of them.
So after a few hours of moving on to other shopping, as well as changing Carley's attitude about the whole day (she had to have a happy heart), we went back and got a good pair of sneakers, and, yes...Twinkle Toes.
After several hours of back to school shopping, we are done. I feel a sense of relief, and most importantly, I learned a very important lesson: get a babysitter and shop alone!
