A Lesson in Clothes Buying (for your kids)

Have I mentioned that all it wants to do here is rain and be nasty out?

I think I have.

Anyway, that doesn’t really have anything to do with my post today.  Or maybe it does just a little.

The little kids usually play on the church playground while their older brother is in church school.  But because of the rain and gray and COLD (the crap weather trifecta, wohoo!) I decided we would run an errand instead.

See…

I took the kiddo (Ben) to Old Navy with me on Sunday to buy much needed school pants (lately, he was channeling Steve Urkel).  A normal person would probably have their child that is PRESENT and accounted for try said pants on but instead I simply held the size 8s up to him and said, “yeah, those oughta work”.

Bad plan.
(p.s. in my defense he was being really ornery about the whole clothes shopping thing and we both just wanted to get it over with.)

And,  I REALLY should have known better too because the child has NEVER in his life worn the size of clothes that would actually match up to his age.  This is the child that would eek out in the 5-10% of those growth charts during any well check as a baby/toddler/pre-schooler and he’s probably one of the 2 shortest in his class.

But, as they say, hope springs eternal and I was crossing my fingers that I could just buy the eight year old some 8s.

So, we got home and tried them on before I was about to wash them and GUESS WHAT?!?!? TOO big!

DUH.

So, since it was all rainy the little kids and I headed back to the O.N. for some exchange action while brother was at church.

And thankfully I was able to find all the same items in the better fitting size 7.

But all the while, there was a party going on under every clearance rack in the boys and girls section (and YAY, even the Ladies!!) and both myself and the retail staff had to follow behind Tornado K before all was lost to the dust bunnies and empty coat hangers.

But the real icing on the cake was all the crap by the checkout where I had to go to do my transaction of “no I do not want this size, I want THIS size”.

Yeah, have you SEEN all the junk at O.N. lately!?!  They even have snacks now.

SUPER!

But the thing that caught K’s eye was a recorder.

You know, the kind you put your mouth all over and make horrible noises with?  THE same one that 35 other kids have probably already put THEIR mouth on with flu season in full force?  Yep.  One of those.

So, then, G decided he was tired and “fell asleep” on the floor by my feet while I was listening to the musical stylings of K (as was the rest of the store…) and watching her grow more and more attached to said recorder as the moments went by and I was sliding my card to pay the difference (what? I found a couple of shirts on sale…).

And you all can pretty much guess how things went from here, right?

I had to pick up a 50 pound, limp-bodied boy off of the floor (who was NOT really asleep) while chasing a 3 year old who was blowing into a purpler recorder all while the other 5 people in line awkwardly laughed and smiled at my predicament as an employee passed by holding more shirts that my child likely pulled off the nearest shelf on her way behind me.

But of course the best part was when I finally caught her and had to pry the damn recorder out of her hands while she was kicking and screaming “I want IT, I want IT, I WAAAAANNNNT IT!!!!” and the whole store was staring as we made our way out into the pouring RAIN.

See, I told you the weather had something to do with it.

So, I’ve got one thing to say.

Next time the kid is trying on the pants IN the damn store.

I hope you have learned from me today.

You’re welcome.