Still Learning

On By LynnIn TurtleHead

The other day, I took Little Miss Sunshine shopping. She loves dresses, especially twirly dresses, and most of her sundresses from last year were too small, and heaven knows Gal Smiley would not be caught DEAD in a dress, so there weren’t any hand-me-downs coming the way of the Little Miss, either.

So, to the mall.

Now, there’s very little in life I hate more than shopping for clothes. Even the thought gives me hives. For myself, I’ve come to count on two or three stores and when I need something new, I go to these stores and pick out something in my size from the sale rack and buy it without trying it on, because trying things on is evil.

And if there’s one thing worse than shopping for yourself, it’s spending two hours at the mall in clothes stores with cranky, hot children in tow.

And if there’s one thing worse than clothes shopping at the mall with children, it’s shopping at Bayshore, which is currently undergoing some sort of massive campaign to prevent people from shopping there by slowly shutting down parts of the parking garage, until we’re all left to fight over the 10 remaining spaces in a Hunger Games style there-can-be-only-10 elimination to the death.

So, to the mall.

And you know what? I actually had a delightful time. It turns out the Little Miss actually likes clothes. She likes shopping for clothes. She likes picking things out and trying things on (testing them for twirl-ability) and even the part where we decide if something is worth the price or not. She was cheerful about things that weren’t quite right or were too expensive, she was over-the-moon at things we actually took home.

We had lunch in the food court when she seemed to be fading, and we chatted about her day. Then it was back to the stores, where we scored a few Serious Bargains, and then home to try on everything and decide which would be the winner of Dress That Goes To Pick Up The Big Kids.

I…enjoyed shopping. It was so, so odd. But good odd, you know? A new dawn of mother-daughter moments. I never knew I had The Girly in me like this.

In other news, today is my 17th wedding anniversary, so shout out to the lovely, lovely man who gave me a great life, a great family, and access to awesome mother-daughter shopping trips. I never knew I what I was missing out on until I met you. And since there is no “thing” for number 17 – no paper, no wood, no cotton, no Modern Day Watches – we’ll just have to call it “new car anniversary,” don’t you think?

8 thoughts on “Still Learning”

  1. THAT SOUNDS SO FUN! Honestly, I shop for my boys without them, because all I ever buy is jeans and t-shirts, and SNORE. I would love to shop for dresses and test them for twirlability!

  3. Happy Anniversary!

    B.G. loves dresses too, but I call her the “Tomboy Princess” because she also loves to climb trees, roll around in the leaves, and crawl across the school yard on her knees. So the thought of seeing her lovely dresses ruined makes it hard for me to justify buying new… luckily Value Village always seems to have an endless supply of adorable dresses for about $5 each. B.G. loves going there because I’m much more easygoing about what she can buy than when we’re at the mall!

    As an added bonus the parking situation at Value Village is also much better than at most malls, and certainly that at Bayshore – I’ve given up on going there though it used to be my favourite mall.

  5. OMG, that parking lot is going to be the death of me. I am also not a shopper, but we have had to go not once, but twice in as many weeks. The first time I tried to persuade Zach to just turn around and drive home after our first pass around the top parking deck. The second time, I made sure *I* was driving.

  6. New car shopping is nothing like clothes shopping! Happy Anniversary. Are you sure we’re not related somehow? Seems your little sunshine and my Sonja are very much alike, as are you and I. I shop out of necessity (and I had to, this spring). Taking the 5yo along was…bearable. Even fun!

  7. I’m an avid shopper and even I won’t step foot in Bayshore…it’s a nightmare! Even before the renos. I swear there are certain floors of that mall THAT YOU JUST CAN’T GET TO! Whoever heard of an escalator that skips a floor?!?

    I think both of my kids like shopping because their earliest memories are of wandering through Place d’Orleans, stopping for a coffee and a cookie and shopping for bargains. Before we buy anything now, they both ask, “But Mommy, is it on sale?”

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