Shoe shopping with G. and L.
With the cooler weather comes the need to wear warmer clothes. This also means that over the past week I have had multiple children coming to inform me that they have nothing to wear. Nothing. (Actually, in D.'s case this was actually quite true. No long pants, no pajamas, just t-shirts and shorts. It all comes of growing to fast.) One of the casualties we discovered was that G. and L. needed new shoes. L. in particular since I didn't think I could wedge her sneakers on her feet one more time. So A. and I loaded the little girls into the car and headed off to the shoe store.
In G. and L.'s life, it is very rare to have an outing with just Mommy or Mommy and a big sister. This was an event and it was very exciting. When G. and L. are excited they jabber. The entire ride to the shoe store was spent listening to two little girls talk and laugh and make funny noises. It was quite hilarious and A. had fun taking several videos of them. The little comedians were in rare form.
We park in front of the store and G. and L. pile out of the car dancing and jumping and exuberantly expressing their delight at such an outing and getting new shoes, too. Happy, happy, happy. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. Laughing, laughing, laughing. We come to the shoe store and enter it.
Silence.
Some magical spell must have been put on the shoe store because the second they girls entered it they were rendered mute and expressionless. No smiles, no laughs, no words. Not a sound.
They solemnly stood on the foot measuring things and then sat back down in their chairs and waited. The clerks brought out sneakers and dress-up shoes and started to take the shoes out of the boxes. No expression. I asked them which shoes they would like to try on. Each girl silently pointed at the pair she wanted and the clerks put them on each child's feet. They obediently stood in their news and when asked to walk took two or three tiny steps and then stood still as if the new shoes prohibited all movement. I asked each girl if she liked this pair of shoes. Each girl then nodded with the same expression a child would use to indicate they would now bury their dead pet. I ask again to be sure each child is happy (happy at this point seeming to be a moot point) and pay for the shoes. We exit the store.
Happy, happy, happy. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. Jabber, jabber, jabber.
"I looove my new shoes."
"My new shoes make me run so fast! See me run!"
All the way home.
In G. and L.'s life, it is very rare to have an outing with just Mommy or Mommy and a big sister. This was an event and it was very exciting. When G. and L. are excited they jabber. The entire ride to the shoe store was spent listening to two little girls talk and laugh and make funny noises. It was quite hilarious and A. had fun taking several videos of them. The little comedians were in rare form.
We park in front of the store and G. and L. pile out of the car dancing and jumping and exuberantly expressing their delight at such an outing and getting new shoes, too. Happy, happy, happy. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. Laughing, laughing, laughing. We come to the shoe store and enter it.
Silence.
Some magical spell must have been put on the shoe store because the second they girls entered it they were rendered mute and expressionless. No smiles, no laughs, no words. Not a sound.
They solemnly stood on the foot measuring things and then sat back down in their chairs and waited. The clerks brought out sneakers and dress-up shoes and started to take the shoes out of the boxes. No expression. I asked them which shoes they would like to try on. Each girl silently pointed at the pair she wanted and the clerks put them on each child's feet. They obediently stood in their news and when asked to walk took two or three tiny steps and then stood still as if the new shoes prohibited all movement. I asked each girl if she liked this pair of shoes. Each girl then nodded with the same expression a child would use to indicate they would now bury their dead pet. I ask again to be sure each child is happy (happy at this point seeming to be a moot point) and pay for the shoes. We exit the store.
Happy, happy, happy. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. Jabber, jabber, jabber.
"I looove my new shoes."
"My new shoes make me run so fast! See me run!"
All the way home.
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