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