Saturday, Kiera and I had a little girl time together. Like any good mother and daughter, we went shopping! I make it sound much more exciting than I really felt. To be honest, I am not a fan of shopping for myself. I can shop for family and friends all day long, just not myself.
Our shopping trip was actually out of necessity. I had to have a new pair of tennis shoes. My current tennis shoes had outlived their usefulness… by a couple of months. But, I digress.
Kiera and I headed off, leaving Aaron at home to rest. We met up with my mom for lunch and thankfully, she agreed to meet us at Bealls to begin shoe shopping. I say “thankfully” because if it had just been Kiera and I, there’s a good chance someone would have found me hiding under a pile of shoes. Let me explain.
I have learned from this shopping trip that Kiera is a shopper. And not just any shopper, she is a hard-core avid shopper that loves shoes.
We walked to the back of the store and as I looked around trying to locate the tennis shoes, Kiera managed to find the clearance shoe rack. Before I could blink, she had grabbed a pair of shoes, sat in the floor and pulled her sandals off. “Aren’t these lovely?” She asked as she held up a pair of white dress shoes.“They are pretty, baby, but they aren’t your size.” I responded as I glanced at the shoebox tag.
“It’s ok. I will try them anyway.” She replied as she slid her foot in the obviously large shoe. “Hmm… this one is a little too big.”
I began to look at the clearance rack for any shoes that might be in her size. Unfortunately, there were not any. Did that stop my little Cinderella? Nooooo…Not at all. I pried her away from the rack of shoes with the promise that we would look for more shoes for her to try on.
Finally, we made it to the women’s tennis shoes. As I began to peruse the different brands and styles, Kiera reached in front of me and pulled a box off the shelf. She opened the top and shoved them in my direction. “What about these, Mommy?”
I glanced to the box and noticed the shoe size. “Oh, honey, I can’t wear those. They are too small. That is a size 6. I need a size 9.”
She quickly placed the shoebox back on the shelf and reached for another one. “What about these?” she asked as she opened the lid.
“Umm… those are all white. I can’t wear all white.”
“No white.” I heard her mumble to herself as she put the shoes back on the shelf.
I turned back to the wall of shoes and managed to pick one up before I heard, “Ooh, these are pretty. Look at these!”
I set the shoe down and turned to Kiera and the proffered box. “Wrong size, baby.” I said, “But thank you.”
“Oh ya, what size do you need again?” she asked as she put the box back.
I quietly sighed and repeated my shoe size to her again. By that time, my mom had made her way to us.
“I’m helping Mom find shoes!” she excitedly told her Grandmommy.
As Mom and I began shuffling through shoes, Kiera apparently decided she was done shopping for me and would begin to shop for herself. Never mind the fact that we were in the women’s section and not the children’s section.
She sat down on the floor of an aisle and turned into ‘Princess Kiera.’ I listened as she began to pretend.
“Oh, these are beautiful.” She gasped in awe as she pulled out a pair of high-heeled blue shoes. She slid them on her feet and sighed. “Oh, they brought me the wrong ones! They will have to take them back.”
She placed them back in the box and folded the paper around them before placing them back on the shelf and moving on to another box.
“Oh, my! Look at these, Mom!” She excitedly held up a pair of denim-covered shoes.
“Wow…those are…beautiful.” I said, trying to make sure I gave an appropriate response.
“Hmmm… they almost fit.” She mumbled quietly.
I looked at her little foot resting in the shoe, noticing the good 2 inches of space between her heel and the heel of the shoe.
As I looked at the tennis shoes, Kiera let us know she was done with that aisle and was moving to the next aisle to try on more shoes. She settled in the next aisle and repeated the shoe trying on process.
Finally, I located a pair of tennis shoes to try on and sat down on a bench. Kiera placed her most recent box back on the shelf and came to check on me.
“Very nice.” She said as she looked at them from different angles. I stood and started to walk, testing the shoes.
I turned back around to walk back to Mom and Kiera and noticed that Kiera was organizing the shoeboxes. She pulled all the shoes off one shelf and divided them evenly out between two shelves. Once she had finished organizing the boxes, she sang a song and did a dance for her Grandmommy.
I decided on my tennis shoes and packed them back in the box. I was exhausted.
“I want to try on one more pair of shoes, please!” Kiera danced around me.
My mom smiled at me and said, “I’m going to head out. I still need to get some groceries and mow my yard.”
Chicken. I didn’t actually say that. Although, she reads this so… but she abandoned me! She left me with the crazy, shoe-shopping child! I know she is my child but she still abandoned me!
I sucked it up and hugged her instead of throwing myself to the floor and wrapping my hands around her ankle while begging her to stay. Kiera stopped trying on shoes long enough to hug her and then was off again.
We did make it away from the shoes eventually, although we didn’t get far. A clearance rack of dresses in Kiera’s size, managed to beckon us to their location.
One dress, one pair of shoes and two hours later we exited Bealls. I breathed a sigh of relief as we stepped outside and immediately texted my friend, Diana to let her know that she would be taking Kiera shoe shopping from here on out. She happily replied that she could do that.
Seriously, I did have fun with Kiera and would do it again in a heartbeat. Although, I am considering leaving her at home with her Daddy when it comes time to do Christmas shopping.
