Growing up, one of my favorite annual memories was going shopping for the beginning of each school year. Now, as a parent, I was especially excited to go on the first school shopping spree for my son Michael who will be going to preschool next month.
To prepare, I went through all of Michael’s fall/winter clothes last Monday. That boy has a lot of clothes (that generous family members primarily bought), many of which he has never even worn! So, for him, he only needed a few new outfits and underclothes. He also needed a couple of pair of shoes, a rain coat, a backpack and school supplies. My (soon to be 18 months old son) Sean, on the other hand, needed a whole new wardrobe. (He’s not going to school or anything, but he will be with me at drop-off and pick-up.) At first, I was wondering where all of Michael’s clothes had gone (Sean had a ton of 12 months clothes from Michael). Then, I remembered that Michael was such a chunky baby that he pretty much skipped 18 months and went straight to 2T.
We set aside Saturday to go out to Long Island’s Roosevelt Field Mall in order to try to buy everything in one day. After two clothing store visits and one shoe store visit, we took a break for lunch. The shopping was fun for the most part. Michael really only cared about the backpack – Spiderman all the way. We almost had a meltdown while getting shoes at Stride Rite. Michael wanted to get these ugly (in my opinion) green and black Nickelodeon Slimers sneakers. No way. When he saw that wasn’t a possibility, he asked for the Nickelodeon Slimers Splatstomper Rain Boot. Normally, I wouldn’t pay $35 (why are they only $28 online?) for “ugly” rain boots BUT Stride Rite was having a “buy one, get one 1/2 price” sale, so I relented. (What can I say? I didn’t want to ruin his first school shopping experience.)
Later that day, we met up with some family and friends for a family member’s birthday lunch celebration at The Cheesecake Factory. The portions were huge. I didn’t especially like my pasta dish but everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals. I did love their strawberry cheesecake though. (Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts!) By the time lunch was over, I was exhausted. I decided that I would order online whatever shoes/clothing we hadn’t gotten already (sneakers and a rain coat for Michael; rain boots for Sean). On Saturday evening, I was able to find the rain coat and boots online at Target and the sneakers at Zappos. (I was also able to get the school supplies that evening near my home, but that’s a whole other post!)
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED (whew!)
(To see what other moms around the web are “tackling” today visit Tackle it Tuesday).