Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Almomst Time for School

I thought that was the funniest typo! Al-momst. Yes. Al-momst, indeed.

Anyway. Almost time for school here at The Zoo, and not a moment too soon as Misses A, E and O washed their lunch plates this afternoon and are making masks. And when I say that, I mean washed their paper lunch plates and are crafting them into an art project. Sigh.

Yesterday, I think I used up all my parenting good will by going not once, but twice, to Target. Because, you know. Sometimes you have to. You buy something and you take it back, hoping to get the thing in the next size, but if you don't go back the same day (well, at least this time of year), it's more than likely gone (darn that blue skirt!).

ANYWAY! It's hard to know what size to buy the first time around, so you do some trial and error shopping, knowing you'll return stuff. So, as you toss stuff in the cart, you ask yourself, "Do you buy the shirts looser (yes), but what about pants? Sure they'll grow into them, but if they can't keep them on their hips, even with a belt, that's just not a good sign."

And let's talk about the pants that are too long. Are seven-years-old REALLY that tall? Because Miss A turns seven in a month, and it means she'll have to have a 2 inch growth spurt between now and then. But what if Miss E inherits the pants. She is clearly going to be the "taller" one. Oh heck. Regardless, even if the pants come close to becoming hand-me-downs for one or all of the girls, there is an EXTREMELY good chance they wouldn't even make it out of the "knee-killer" phase (which I dubbed for meaning your child wears holes into the knees...Miss A was very adept at doing that during her kindergarten year and went through pretty much all her pants, or so I discovered while looking at last years clothes).

Yep, back to school shopping. Love it and hate it. It's exhausting and EXPENSIVE, even when you try to be thrifty. I know many of you probably would do a better job, but I don't think I have it in me to go beyond Target, hauling four kids.

Heck, you should have heard Miss Q in the changing rooms alone. I know half of Target did (and yes, I did haul all four into the changing room...the eldests came out with pairs of pants, while I came out with an altered personality and two broken nails. Darn those little tiny jean zippers!!!!). It doesn't help that Miss Q has reached the age where she's no longer strapped into a car seat. Instead, she's sitting in the top of the cart, trying to squirm out. Yegads.

And then today we went to a preschool event for Miss O. She's doing well, potty training wise. I realized that yes, indeed, my child IS potty trained. She pees and poops in the toilet. Not completely consistently. But she's on her way. Hallelujah. And if nothing else, it has been weeks since she poo'd in the pants. So, let's have a moment of silence to appreciate that achievement.

**crickets chirp, it's so silent**

Thank you.

However, since Miss Q has not achieved that milestone, I must now away and take care of that.

Hope you are having a good day.

3 comments:

Allison said...

Amen to the angst of back-to-school shopping!

Shari said...

I don't envy you, nor do I look forward to it! Alex wants me to home-school (yet a different topic). At least rejoice that you can use SOME hand me downs. We won't be getting much of that around here! Look for the silver linings!

Gordon said...

I did hear from another mom that there is some sort of kid thing you can sign up for at Sears. Apparently they will replace shoes or pants if the child wears holes in them for free but it has to be for the same size. I haven't tried it out myself but it my be worth it.