This week I discovered two things:
1. Rebecca has outgrown nearly every single piece of clothing from last fall and winter.
2. Replenishing her wardrobe is a nightmare.
Rebecca is one of the tallest girls in her class and she's not one of those skinny bean poles either, she's proportionally built to her height. Jeans never really fit her well, though I found one pair of Lucky Jeans at the junk store for 5.99 that fit her nicely. Mostly she lives in gauchos and leggings. Last year I found tons of great blousey knit tops that were great. They fit her beautifully, nothing was too tight and it was all age appropriate.
This year the style has changed. The crap that is being sold to the "tween" age group is simply appalling. The t-shirts are skin tight and in all of the awful flourescents that were ugly the first time that I lived through them in the eighties. None of it is pretty you know? We found some things that we could both live with, most of which were black. There were simply no pretty colors to be found.
We tried the Gap, which is not whorish, but doesn't fit her in the kids sizes. Justice is pre-whore central, though we found a few things. Sears, even good old sears had a strong "How to be a whore in three easy steps" section. Forget Kohls. Just do. I used to love that store.
The things offered at Lands End and LLBean are just boring. I miss the days when I could go into Gymboree and lose myself in those sweet ensembles. The whole thing would match, underwear, socks, hair ribbons, dress and tights.
So clothes shopping which should be fun, has been nothing but frustration as Rebecca tries things on only to find them too tight or just too awful. Finally I gave up and ordered some things from some very non whorish catalogs.
Today was also haircut day.
Lily wanted hers short.
Rebecca just needed a trim.
So after a full day of haircuts, a movie about special agent hamsters, failed clothes shopping, and forcing my children to try on their winter coats, snow pants and boots, guess what we did to relax?
We started (and finished) rearranging the furniture in Rebecca's room. Because I'm that kind of crazy. Now I'm just exhausted. Tomorrow we are staying home and tidying and cleaning the house. We will put the shame of the tween tart clothing expedition behind us and start the morning fresh and bright.
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