New Shoes- Cool Shoes

Do you see this face? You would think something terrible had happened to her for her to be so upset. This is mild compared to the fit she threw every time we mentioned or held the new shoes.

Kids' feet grow. It's a fact. Rya, however, cannot be reasoned with about this issue and doesn't understand why she can't always wear her same Nike tennis shoes. I realized one day as I was trying to get her shoes on that they were tight and her toes were touching the ends of the shoes. It was obviously time for new shoes. And when girls need new shoes what better place to go than Nordstrom, so off we went. Rya is usually pretty good about tagging along with me in the mall. Mostly because she knows that I'm a sucker for the carousel and will take her on the ride at some point during the trip.

We reached the third floor of Nordstrom after climbing "the magic stairs" as Rya calls the escalator. I found a few pair I liked (because let's be honest- she's not even 2! She doesn't know what she likes, so I will continue to take advantage of dressing her my way until I can't any longer) and asked the sales woman to get them in Rya's size. So far, so good. I took the shoes out of the box and Rya's shoes off her feet. Then all hell broke loose. I have been the onlooker many times when a child is throwing a fit in a store and always felt sorry for the parent. I guess it was my turn to get the unwanted attention. Rya screamed and the girl has lungs. She threw herself onto the floor in a far too dramatic movement. She proceeded to kick, scream, and then run away. Not even a balloon would make her calm down. What kind of girl throws a fit about new shoes... from Nordstrom? I was too embarrassed to continue the fight I was not going to win with Rya, so I bought the shoes and we left. She was a giant mess. I couldn't get her to calm down the whole ride home.

For weeks we tried to put on her new shoes with the same reaction I got the first time. We talked about the shoes often and called them "cool shoes" in hopes of enticing her to put them on. Finally I had to explain to her that her Nike shoes were too small and she couldn't wear them anymore. That seemed to work. She walked around telling everyone her shoes were too small and let us put on the new shoes. Is it too much to ask that her feet stop growing? I'm dreading this whole process which is inevitably going to occur again. Wish me luck.