i have definite tastes and ideas when it comes to girls clothes.

when i was choosing dresses for the flower girls at my wedding, i was encouraged to go with pouffy skirts and ruffles. crinoline, possibly?

and i just

could

not.

instead, i found some sensible, pretty april cornell dresses, and had the girls wear those. and can i tell you how beautiful they looked. april cornell is fantastic for young girls - not too girly, not adult clothes in kids sizes sort of thing.

so if i am so anti-ruffle for the girls (and i am, unless it is ruffled panties on bottoms or leotards) and for myself, then why oh why did i do possibly the stupidist thing i have done in a LONG time, that has delighted all my children?

today i found some disney shoes. in a range of sizes. so what, i thought, in a few years i will get the girls mules. they will like them. but then i saw the tiniest pair of shoes....a clear plastic (faux glass) with cinderella's picture at the toe. glitter interspersed amongst the plastic. a tiny heel.

i would like to think that i would have kept going, but the price, and 35 years as frugal blake's daughter, made me buy them.

the shoes were $10 hong kong

that, compadres, is $2 canadian. for disney shoes.

so i also bought jasper a pair of pink mules with fuzzies at the toes (belle) and sebastian a pair of blue (tinkerbell?) shoes. just in case he wants to fit in.

i came home and the kids were enchanted. sela erupted into screams when we took the shoes off for her bath. they're plastic, she probably could have worn them in the bath. and they're all stomping uncertainly across the floor looking like whoopi goldberg in heels. they're clutching on to surfaces and uneven and so proud of themselves.

pitysoo

yes, they're pretty shoes.

i hesitate to write this entry, because i know my mother and sisters are delighted right now, and at the soonest possible opportunity are going to be obnoxious about this weakness on my part. well, all i can or will say is that....um, where was i...or right, you bug me, i won't post pictures of it.

and i have to admit, watching all four of my children tumbling around the playroom in joe boxer pyjamas and heels, is an amusing sight.

what was i thinking? who am i? next i'll relinquish my peta membership and buy everyone mink coats? we'll be junior j-los? OY!

Comments

[Auntie Pammie]

I want a picture, and good for sela for being a shoe person like this particular auntie.. glad to hear that kids are better, If you find another pair of shoes size 9, I would love a matching pair.
Love to you all.

[knobody]

hey, drag racing is a big event here once a year. probably almost as big as it is in san fran. this brings back memories of when my friend's son was a toddler and he used to play dress-up in all the girl's dress-up clothes. he makes a very lovely girl. at least yours can walk around in heels. i'm not sure sagan can walk and chew gum, and i know zali can't. grace and coordination are wonderful qualities. even if they are learned in a, um, unorthodox fashion (pun intended).

[Mo aka Maureen aka M aka grandmother :-)]

Would I comment on the fact that my daughter, Tess, bought DISNEY SHOES for her children!! NEVER!!

Love, M xox

[Blake]

Well done Tessie!You saved money re: the shoes purchase.Now to really add to the lifetime of the shoes and to save even more money teach the children how to take exceptionally long steps.
Love,Dad

[maggs]

My kiddo loves to play dress up. She'll don high heels, jewelry, hat, and push a stroller with a baby doll up and down the hall.

For christmas she's getting a cinderella talking vanity (she likes to pretend with make-up and hair) and a dress up trunk with clothes (now that she's mastered how to undress)

[SheilaC]

Well done for getting "pretty" shoes for all 4 kids. Love your description of the Whoopie Goldberg fashion parade!

Our son Robbie could not understand why the girls got to wear party dresses and black shiny party shoes for church and other special occasions, and why he didn't have those things. And why couldn't he have pretty pony tail things in his hair? It was hard to convince him, at age 2 and 3, that wearing a button-down oxford shirt, tie, belt, etc. "like Daddy" was just as good, when the girls were making such a fuss about their party clothes. We did go buy him shiny black oxford shoes to be his party shoes.

And he often would wear the princess tulle skirts, crowns, necklaces and bracelets the girls were wearing for dress-up. Still does sometimes, at age 5! He just doesn't want to be left out of the fun, and to be different, sometimes. He also joins in their games with my little pony (ugh), Care Bears, Barbie dolls and baby dolls. He is more interested in those things than one of his sisters.

I laughed hard one day when Robbie was all dressed up in skirt, crown and necklaces, all pink, and announced to his father "Look Daddy, I'm a QUEEN!" His father winced a bit, but smiled. We think it's okay - you have to dress up and try on all the possibilities, to find out what fits your personality and is fun for you, and what doesn't. We don't discourage Katie and Maggie from dressing as wizards, firefighters, cowboys and so on, (Katie loves to be a King!) and we don't want to discourage Robbie from trying other roles too.
Happy dress-up times! Are you having a tea party?

[joeinvegas]

Yes, though I'v neever tried, can you get those things in my size? I'll stumble around with Jasper.
All they would need now are those nice blinky lights in the heels that flash as you step. Those I really want.

[lyns]

can't beat the $10HK part!!! I would buy them too...Noah is in love w/ Dora the Explorer...almsot bought him the boots..but didn't want to have to keep defending him in public for the entire winter...people in the US just wouldn't get it or understand it if I put my 2yr old in "girl" boots... but as for the shoes...you go girl...xo lyns

[Jane]

CAll it therapy for Carys. You said she has tight heel cords, right? Well, I'd think the heels should help her practice maintaining them in the stretched position. I hate heels so much I can't test this theory 'cause I have no shoes, but justification for all things is possible. (not that fun shoes aren't great anyway....still remember my pink smurfette shoes.....:)

[Tertia]

Pictures!! Immediately! I insist!

[kate]

I cant wait to see a picture of them in those shoes!