Shoes & Little Girls

Yesterday, I decided to take Abby & Libby shoe shopping at Payless at the mall. After that, I thought they could play in the little play area that is located very close to the store (it has a broccoli tree that doubles as a slide - it really doesn't get much more fun than that). Abby has been in desperate need of new tennis shoes for about a month but with everything else going on it just has not happened. So off we went. I got a sweet parking spot and decided that it was not worth getting the stroller out of the van because Libby can walk and she is pretty well behaved and likes to stay close to me. And we were going to just get some shoes and then go play.....

So we go to Payless and I carry Libby into the store. I put her down and we start looking at tennis shoes for Abby. Then I realize I should probably measure her foot - she'd grown even more than I thought! Time to look at a larger size. Libby is doing great. She's saying "shoes, shoes." Ah, I think, she really does play with shoes a lot at home (I believe I've posted about this fact before).

So we start trying shoes on Abby. I'm continually directing her away from the Disney princess shoes (the last two pair have been Disney princess and I'm tired of it!). We try on a pair of white tennies that have pink sparkles and those fit. I look and see Libby has now taken off her shoes and is also trying on shoes that are way to big for her. Oh well, I think, I'll put them back.

"Let's try another pair, Abby." And I pick out a pair that I would wear and she trys them on and they fit too. Slyly, I try to convince Abby that this is the better pair cause they won't look as dirty, they have blue on them so they'll go with jeans, etc, etc....Libby now has her socks off and is randomly pulling out shoes and trying them on. Okay, at this point it needs to stop, so I put Libby's socks on and decide to measure her foot too. Wow! Her foot has grown too! So we look down at the shoes for Libby because she is obsessed with trying on shoes and I figure - let's see what they got (even though I have a 18 gallon rubbermaid container filled with shoes for all that Luke & Abby have out grown).

I see a pair that I would like and try to convince Libby to try them on. She'll have nothing of the sort, she wants the glitter, princess, mary jane shoes and starts screaming because she won't try on the ones that I want but is contorting her body in impossible ways to she grab the glitter princess shoes......Aghhhh! Now we need to go. Abby picked out the white shoes with the pink glitter spots on them and I'm fighting a tantrum throwing almost 2 year old over trying to get the shoes on that she was wearing when we came into the store! Aghhhh! Why am I shopping without a stroller? Strollers are God's gift to the modern mother. They are miniature prisons that keep children in check as they are buckled in. I must remember this fact!

We make it to the cashier. And I say, in my complete embarrassment at the LOUD tantrum that was just given:

"I should have known, she likes to play with shoes more than anything else at home."

The cashier replys, "Who needs toys when you've got shoes?"

So true, so true. Lesson learned.