flea

Casper's complaining she's got only two pairs of shoes that fit. Which is true. She has some Target sneakers with sparkles on the toes that were an Xmas gift and are size 2. She's got Lands' End mary jane trekkers from last summer that are a 1, I think. Maybe a 2.

How is this possible? A mere year ago she had no shoes and we bought her 2 pairs of sneakers right after Christmas. Both are now outgrown (one she barely wore, the other were worn out). We had shoe and fashion trauma like whoa over the summer.

She wants boots, I'm not sure what exactly, but I am pondering buying her some clearance boots in a 3 hoping they will still fit next year. Target still has some black fashion boots and Ugg knockoffs in the $20 range online. She could use another pair of sneakers - something in the punkier Keds, Converse, Vans universe. Unless I am lucky and catch a sale, these brands run $30-45 new!! And soon enough it will be summer. She needs and will get new flip-flops (thank you Old Navy for shoes I can afford). Will the Lands End still fit in 4 months? Doubtful. Should I spring for Keen sandals? Those at least have hand-me-down or resale value - assuming she doesn't wear them out AND outgrow them. She's hard on shoes.

In scouring ebay for boots in a size 3, I discovered that a girls' 3 is about the same as a women's 5. Yes, my 6 year old who stands 4'1" tall has feet nearly as big as some actual adult women. Heaven help her. I hope there are more styles available at sizes bigger than women's 10 than there used to be, because I am pretty sure that's where she's heading.

The clothing issue around camp has moved on to the shoes. (We haven't solved the clothing issue around clothes, per se - there are only three pairs of shorts/capris she will consent to wear right now, and she won't wear a skort or a dress to camp, but I do laundry on weekends and one load midweek anyway, and she doesn't mind wearing the same thing every other day, so we're coping.)

Here are the shoes my daughter owns:
1. New pink Stride Rite skimmer style sneakers. Bought a month ago by grandma. Make blisters if worn without socks. Are "embarrassing" to wear with socks. Worn today, with socks, in tears.
2. 3 year old Old Navy $1 flip flops that are too small. Naturally, these are her favorite shoes. These are the only shoes we have forbidden her to wear to camp; I want her to have more stability and foot protection, although in our daily argument about shoes she tells me that lots of other kids wear flip flops.
3. Black Keds sneakers bought in early spring that were her favorites and worn every day for the second half of the spring. Now are somehow horrible and "too small" (although the same size as her other shoes).
4. Navy crocs with no backs. She wore these without socks to camp yesterday and got blisters.
5. Multicolor crocs that have backs but are really too small (12-13 and she's a 1 now) and I should pull them and donate.
6. New Balance traditional athletic sneakers, bought new in January, rejected after a few wearings because she had trouble tying them. She wore them Wednesday to camp (without socks) and figured out how to tie them herself for the first time, but could not be persuaded to even think of them today.
7. Lands End Mary Jane trekkers which are purple and adorable and I kind of want a pair. Bought new this spring, with the intention of them being her default summer shoe. She wore them occasionally during the school year and now says she hates them.
8. Stride Rite black leather Mary Janes, bought for $5 on ebay, which is a good thing because she wore them once to school and will not consider them at all. I should resell these as there is no hope for them.

Eight pairs of shoes, all but two of them bought in the last six months, with her in on the choice. One pair that she will wear that doesn't cause blisters, and that's a pair of flip flops. Argh. Sigh.

So far, only one of her three bathing suits is "embarassing," and it's the rash guard one, and I am heartlessly making her wear it once a week when they have lengthy outdoor play in swimsuits at camp, to protect her skin.

I may have fallen in love with a pair of Crocs. The Alice, to be precise, which I have seen on a student twice in the past 2 days (same student, in teal). They are here: http://shop.crocs.com/pc-421-4-alice.aspx?reqid=421&reqProdTypeId=
41p&subsectionname=footwear§ion=products and they are adorable on.

Happily I find Crocs do not fit me at all well - my toes are completely wrong for them. So I don't have to succumb to the lure of the Croc. Though, next time we are at the mall I'll have to look in Nordstrom to see if they have them, and try a pair on just to be SURE.