Holy Shoe Shopping!

Miss A has an official P.E. class. I can't really tell you the day because she's on a rotating schedule of "Special" classes like art and music and computers and P.E., but she's supposed to wear tennis shoes on her physical exertion days. We had a funny exchange about what "P.E." meant and I basically told her it was an exercise class. She's very excited about it, but probably more so because it means she has to get a new pair of shoes.

See, she's spent the summer in her hot pink, obviously-too-big for her feet mock-crocs. They are an 11/12 size. I figure, I already know the size so we can just jet in and find a nice looking cheap pair and we'll be good to go. With this in mind, we head off to Wal-mart today after I pick her up from Kindergarten.

I'm not sure what possesses me to go at noon with a car full of unfed children, but it seems that I'm bent on making this my errand time. I'm quite grateful that my kids have been such good sports. So far, we've tackled Aldi's and, today, we ventured into Wal-mart and all returned home with all appendages and no yelling. I probably should knock on some form of wood at this point.

Furthermore, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but I'm #3 of 4 kids, and in my memory, we were all quite wonderful and non-problematic children. Of course, I have no recollection of myself when I was younger and my memories are probably skewed considering that I have heard several tales of what a hellion I was at an early age. In fact, one of my mother's favorite stories to tell about me is how headstrong I was as a child, so much so that at one point, she prayed that the Lord either send instructions for dealing with me or take me back. So, I can only imagine what *I* would have been like shoe shopping at Wal-mart.

Probably alot like Miss O. She, who is currently undergoing the "No! I will NOT TAKE A NAP!!!!" phase, had the hardest time being cooped up in the cart. Keep in mind that PMQ (Pre-Miss Q), riding in the "basket" part of the cart was a TREAT. Now, however, that she MUST ride in the basket part of the cart, well, talk about being O.Fended. In fact, that's what I should call her when she pitches these fits when we are out and about: Miss O.Fended. Because, seriously Gentle Reader? These are the times when I am just talking myself through the moment, and she's actually quite lucky that I get so tired so quickly, because I just don't have the energy to go all nuclear on her, which is what I WANT to do...I just CAN'T do it because my energy is spent pushing the cart with her, in the basket, wailing out loud.

And this moment when we were in the shoe aisle at Wal-mart, Miss O wanted out. Miss E and A seemed to only want to twirl about and dance and look at all the different shoes and find and agree to try on only the shoes that lit up or had Disney Princesses on them. Miss A finally agreed to try on "...whatever you want, Mom," which was very gracious of her. Alas. The sad discovery: Miss A probably needs a size 12 and a half shoe. Wal-mart only carries size 12 and size 13. Guess which is too small and which is too big. Heavy sigh. Guess who decided to start SCREAMING in the most shrill, ear-splitting blood coming out of your brain decibel from inside the cart basket? Not me, though for a moment, I was tempted. When said screaming woke up Miss Q, I decided that shoe shopping time was O.V.E.R. Of course, that didn't stop me from getting my milk and paper plates, but it seems that movement calmed the savage beasts. And while we were in Walmart, we might as well get some cereal that they don't have at Aldi's. And something for dinner...I sure like those veggie lasagnas from Stouffers.

Yes. We were all unraveling a bit.

But, as I mentioned, we all got out of there with no yelling and everyone basically happy and non-shrieking/crying. AND that's WITH a trip to the restrooms.

Seriously, Miss A and E BOTH announced that they "had to go so bad [she] was going to EXPLODE!!!!" (okay, that was only Miss A, but as soon as Miss E heard, she too started grabbing her crotch and doing the pee-dance) as soon as we got done paying for our merchandise, which FYI is NOT allowed in the bathroom area, even if you have already taken out your 2 year old to make room for all the bags o'stuff you now have. So, I sent them in by themselves. Let me just say how grateful I am that they are old enough to be able to do that (ie: that I'm no longer required to assist in wiping), and that I didn't have to go psycho on anyone who might have tried to hurt them, because by that point, I probably would have welcomed the outlet (though you might have been shocked to then see me on the 5 o'clock news, being handcuffed and taken away with the nice police people).

So, yeah. We had a trip to Wal-mart. We got shoes for Miss E. Miss A still needs shoes. Guess what we are doing tonight for our F.H.E. activity???? Yes. But this time we'll be taking Super J with us.

UPDATE: Guess what...Target has shoes in half sizes. Yet another reason we love the Target. Yay. So, we found some shoes last night and got Miss A two pairs. As we were winding down, she informs me and Super J that she really should get a couple more pairs. Oh, uh huh. A shoe lover is born.