11/2/08 Shopping

Thanks to our suddenly seasonal weather, Gabriel put on long pants for the first time in months. Did I say long? Talk about highwaters! And as usual, they still just barely stick to his skinny rear end. Many of them are wearing out at the knees, too.

This is the part of the year I dread the most -- scouring the earth for pants long enough and slim enough for Gabriel. This world opens up a lot when the kid can operate a snap and a fly. So I took Gabriel (and Julian tagged along) to Kohl's in the hopes of finding something that would work.

First, lunch for the bunch.


I've just learned that books, especially unfamiliar ones, are a great way to keep the boys under control in the car, and when we're out places. They're both really good anyway, but if there's any opportunity for antsy, bringing books is a huge help. They were both so engrossed it was all I could do to get them to look up walking into the store.


After much trial and error, and one complaint to the manager that many Lee jeans' snaps are hard for me to operate, let alone a 6-year-old who waits for hours until it's a true emergency, we came away with 7 pairs of size 5-slim jeans that will probably work. Julian sat and read patiently while Gabriel tried on at least 10 pairs of jeans -- every size 5S there was, and a few 6Ss just to verify that they're still far too big, and long.

Then we shopped briefly in the toddler girls' section, as Katrina really needs long-sleeved shirts. Leave it to the boys to turn "2T" into "tooty" and "4T" into "farty"! They had a lot more fun picking cute shirts for her than jeans for Gabriel. They sure have oversweet syrupy-cutesy tastes though.

Speaking of oversweet, the boys haven't said "boo" about Halloween candy since the big night. Not one word. And their candy bags are in plain sight, too.

Halloween night, I let them each pick 5 pieces of candy from their bags, and they had to sit at the dining table to eat it. And that was still too much -- Julian didn't finish his Raisinets, and both were complaining of tummyaches and lay down on their beds for a while afterwards. Even still, aren't normal kids supposed to gobble it all down and throw a huge fit if they can't and beg for more the next morning? Well, if Katrina is anything like me, she won't take her eyes off the loot for a second!

Maybe Gabriel needs more candy to fill out his Slim jeans!

11/2/08