Shoe Shopping

The other day Dad took "his girls" out to eat. Afterwards, he said there was a store he wanted to stop at. Kimmie was in need of new tennis shoes, and there was a shoe store next door to Dad's store, so Bethany and I took Kimmie to look for new shoes.

Shoe shopping with Kimmie is an experience everyone would rather skip, but it has to be done--in spite of the hysterical screaming.

We took Kimmie through the girls' shoes and found a pair that looked promising. We sat her down and I proceeded to try to get one of the new shoes on her feet--an impossible task. Kimmie was fighting me and screaming loudly. She could wiggle and kick the shoe off before I could even get it on all the way.

Kimmie was screaming so loudly I told Bethany that Dad would not have any trouble finding us. Bethany and I were laughing so hard we were crying. People were walking past us . . . looking and looking and looking. They would eventually smile when they realized we really weren't hurting Kimmie.

Finally I decided to get the second shoe out to have it ready to put on her. While I was getting all the stuffing out of it, Bethany picked up the first shoe. We each grabbed a foot and while Kimmie howled at the top of her lungs, we put the shoes on. We quickly grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet before she could kick them off.

I made her walk, screaming as we went. We walked up one aisle and down the next. We started back up the aisle when Dad came around the end smirking at us--Kimmie was still screaming so he had no trouble finding us! And, yes, he was trying not to laugh. He stopped and waited for us to reach him.

I showed Kimmie a mirror where she could see her feet. She finally stopped screaming, deemed her new shoes "pretty," and told us she wanted to keep them on instead of putting on her old shoes.

She can go from screaming to happy in a blink!

--Mom

Trip to Ben Franklin

After stopping at the dollar store, we went across the parking lot to the Ben Franklin. Kimmie was really, really good in the Ben Franklin. She actually stood for a long time holding and looking at her new Aladdin coloring book, while I looked through the fabric.

However, when she spotted the rack with Winnie-the-Pooh fabric, she tried to put every bolt in our shopping cart. I finally convinced her that we would get one of the fabrics.

She was very patient--something that is not usually her strength!

When the fabric that I'd picked out was being cut, Kimmie kept track of the Pooh fabric. Once it was cut, she had to hold it. She had to carry it to the register. She had to carry it to the car. She never let go of it until she laid it on the seat of the car.

After we were at home, Kimmie had to have the Pooh fabric to play with. She slept with it for three nights. She probably would have slept with it longer, but I slipped it away one morning and put it in the sewing room.

She may love Aladdin and Ben10 and Danny Phantom, but I think she still loves Pooh Bear most of all. She's loved him for a very long time.

--Mom

Dollar Store Treasure

The other day Kimmie wanted to go shopping at the mall. It's always either the mall or Target. I didn't really want to take her to the mall, so I suggested Joann's. Her answer was, "No, no, no!" I then suggested the dollar store. (There happens to be one in the same plaza as a Ben Franklin.) She was really excited about going to the dollar store.

We went in and wandered around for a couple minutes looking for the toy aisles. When she spotted the aisle with books and coloring books, she was off at a run. She dove right into the section of coloring books and dug through them. She popped out with a Pooh Bear activity book. She worked her way through that aisle and we headed around the end to go up the toy aisle. On the end rack were more coloring books. Kimmie started flipping through them. She pulled out a Disney one with Hercules on the front and a small picture of Aladdin. She was happy. It went in the cart.

We wandered through the toys and didn't find anything. As we were going around the end rack on our way to the check-out, Kimmie started rummaging through the coloring books again. I was telling her that she already looked through those and had one in the cart, when she pulled out one with a big picture of Aladdin on the front! Hercules went back in the box and Aladdin went in the cart!

As you may know, the items Kimmie wanted to shop for at Disney World were Aladdin playing cards and an Aladdin coloring book. Well, we took care of the playing cards when we special ordered some, but the coloring book we gave up on.

Who would have thought we'd find a Disney Aladdin coloring book at our local dollar store!

Kimmie has a new treasure.

--Mom