Thursday, October 30, 2008

And Then, There Were Shoes

When I found out that our third baby was of the female variety I looked forward to all the girly things we would do to together. I imagined days spent playing with dolls, mornings spent trying out adorable new hairstyles, afternoons playing tea party . . .

And then, there was Katie.

Sure, as an infant she had no say in what I dressed her in. As she grew into toddlerhood, however, things started to change. Not only did she discover her "voice" (lovingly referred to by family and friends as "wide-mouthed frog"), but she also found her fashion sense.

If you can call pairing striped, multi-colored tights with flowered sneakers, a denim mini and a red shirt with a blue star emblazoned on the front an outfit. Lord knows, I will probably never get over that little ensemble.

I am lucky that she agreed to wear the little matchy matchy Gymboree outfits as much as she did during the early stages of her budding fashionista days, and although it's been at least a year since I've even set foot in that store (or browsed what eBay had to offer), I found myself up late last night looking for a matching top to an adorable skirt handed down to Katie by her cousin.

It was as if I were possessed.

And it was all the fault of these shoes. A simple pair of almost new, black velvet Gymboree shoes with a sparkly buckle. Oh! The cute.

"Can you even resist?" My sister-in-law handed them over in a bag filled with gently used but still adorable hand-me-downs (the winning item being a pair of Halloween jammies that Katie wanted to wear all day long) and sadly pulled the shoes out, telling me how my niece had only worn them once and look at how cute they are.

I was done for.

Kind of like when you pass the row of baby stuff and you just can't help stopping and fondling the cute little teeny tiny baby socks, or running your hand over the super soft baby blankets. Yes, it was just like that feeling - only stronger.

All my hopes and dreams of letting Katie be herself flew yonder. Suddenly I was obsessed by visions of her dolled up for the holidays in a taffeta dress, curled hair and those adorable shoes on her feet.

The Gymboree demon strikes again!

I'm just wondering how I am going to get this:



Into a pair of velvety sparkly holiday shoes, let alone a dress to go with them!

Disclaimer: Yes, I did read my previous post and yes, I know it is not all about me. But can't a girl dream? Besides, she owes me for letting her dress up as a Mutant Ninja Turtle for Halloween. Pictures forthcoming folks.

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Want to see what goes into my kids' lunchboxes? I have a new article for my column, Kids and the City, up over at Seattle Mom Blogs. Come check it out!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never anticipated girls, so I never really thought much about what their opinions would be on clothing. I like them to match, but I'm not big on the girlification.

However, I never anticipated that getting them to match would be such a battle. How to explain that a purple dress with little flower bouquets on it does not go with the grey tights with white snowflakes?

Sigh.

Tami said...

Sigh, I so had those dreams of all the matchy cute clothes when my daughter came along also. But early on she dashed those hopes and turned into a tom boy to the extreme! Dresses are like the plague to her and almost not worth the torture to myself to make her wear them. Good luck with the buckle shoes, can't wait to see them!!

painted maypole said...

oh, i think we all have those things in the closet that we wish our girls would wear. ;)

Kyla said...

See, we're the opposite! I was a tomboy and KayTar is the caricature of a girly girl, it is so STRANGE to me! How does this happen?

An Ordinary Mom said...

I know that demon ... let us know how it goes :) !!

Lisa said...

Maybe you guys can compromise. Like pretty dress and soccer cleats. Or pretty shoes and baseball shirt. heehee.

She is so adoreable!

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Bribe her.

Angie McCullagh said...

She's not a girly girl, huh? At least she'll be more well rounded that a lot of the others. Mine is girly through and through. But she has a nicely balanced aesthetic. She'll wear pants AND skirts.

Good luck getting her in the cute.

flutter said...

I think she is fantastic.

rachel... said...

I must admit to having been possessed by the Gymboree demon on occasion, too. With THREE girls, though, I get more opportunities. I have a pair of adorable gymboree shoes (red patent leather!) only worn once by oldest daughter that haunt me now, too. I took them out of the attic, excited at the prospect of my toddler wearing them this holiday season - only to find we missed our chance - too small. Will have to keep them handy for the baby...

Good luck (and have fun!) dressing up the girl, I'm sure she'll look beautiful, either way!

Anonymous said...

I think this is the road we're heading down with the little Imp.

It's a miracle I got to dress her in a Pirate "Princess" costume and not just the Pirate costume she wanted!

That photo of your little one running is great! I love it.

Liz said...

Loved your post here & the lunchbox article. I have comments for both, but am too sleepy to think straight, so I'll talk to ya later. email me if ya want...Lizreeves2@aol.com

alice c said...

Look at that photo! Check out the confidence of that adorable child! Lucky, lucky Carrie to have a daughter who will grab life and shake it until the pips squeak.

Julienne said...

Oh dear, my Mom was just the opposite! She was the tomboy (with the Mom that wanted her in pageants) and I was the girlie girl who preferred long novels to long runs.

Her solution to matching when I was a toddler was that all my pants (corduroys, mind you - I'm still traumatized) were solid and all my shirts had all the colors of the pants in them. Yeah, it was like white trash grrranimals around my house! :-)

Ann(ie) said...

This will happen to me I'm sure. IF I get blessed with a girl she will be all about mud and sports not girly girly pedicures and pink stuff. *sigh* But, I'll tell ya one thing: that is clearly one awesome, brave, go-getter you've got there!!! Nicely done, girl.

Anonymous said...

Okay.. see sometimes having two boys is a big sigh for me.. :)

The photo is adorable!!

Unknown said...

Toots is all about the mud and dirt. Although she comes in handy for lifting the snails out of the garden and throwing them on the garage roof for the birds.

The first time I let her choose her own outfit, she picked a yellow sundress (in October), a baseball cap and a pair of bright green wellies with frogs all over.