Not A Swimsuit

Taking Kiera clothes shopping has always been slightly on the painful side. In fact, when she was smaller I would just buy clothes, bring them home and eventually get her to try them on. If they didn’t fit, then I would take them back.

Last year, when we had to buy jeans for school, I wasn’t sure I was going to survive. So, when this school year began to roll around I was not looking forward to the thought of taking her shopping.

Monday night, I decided I wanted to try and find a couple of new tops for work. I picked Kiera up and broke the news to her.

“Ok. We are going to run by the house, then we are going to a store so I can look at a couple of shirts, then I will take you to eat dinner.” I explained. I waited for the long-suffering sigh that I was sure was coming.

“Ok. That sounds good.” She stated looking out the car window.

I glanced over to make sure that I did have my child in the car. Yup. I did.

She proceeded to tell me about her day as I drove to the store. As we walked into the store, I waited for the shoe to drop. This was the same child that a year ago, when I tried to try on clothes she frustrated me so much that I gave up and we left.

I pointed to the racks of clothes in my size. “I’m going to look right here.” I stated.

“Ok. I’m going to look over here at my size.” Kiera replied as she headed off to a different set of clothes. “It’s a small store, so I know you can see me.”

I stood still, squinting at my child as she examined different shirts.

“What size do I need?” She asked as she held out a camouflage t-shirt with the word love printed on it.

I told her what size to look for; explained the best places to look and walked the short distance to my size clothes racks.

Every couple of minutes, she would call me over to look at a piece of clothing that she had found and wanted to try on. At one point, she came over to me holding several hangers of clothes. The surprise must have shown on my face.

“Don’t judge me.” She stated grinning at me and handing them over to me to hold.

Finally, we both had an armful of clothing to try on and made our way to the dressing room. Kiera had even picked out a couple of shirts for me to try on. It was the strangest feeling.

We each had our own dressing room, but our voices carried easily over the dressing room walls.

“I really like this pink shirt.” She stated from the stall next to mine. “What do you have on?”

“Umm… I have a pink shirt on, but I don’t know that I like it.” I replied.

“Don’t change. I’m coming over.” She exclaimed.

“Hmm…” She looked me over critically after opening my door. “I like the pink. But, I don’t like the sleeve. And this part.” She pulled on the bodice of the shirt.

“I’m going to say this is a no.” She stated firmly, and then headed back to her dressing room.

And that was the pattern. We would try something on and she would come over to share her opinion on what I tried on.

I put on a cute gray shirt that I was leaning towards purchasing… until Kiera came in.

She tilted her head and squinted at me. “I like the top part with your hair. You would need jewelry with this shirt. I mean, always wear a necklace with this one.”

“But, you like it?” I asked.

“Well… I don’t really like the color. Or the way it hangs here.”

I took it off and put it in my reject pile. There’s nothing like trying on clothes and being critiqued by your 8-year old to make you question your fashion sense.

I tried on another shirt. Again, I was close to putting it in the keep pile. Then Kiera came back in.

“No. I don’t like the buttons. It doesn’t match the shirt at all.” She explained waving her hand toward the large brown buttons. Off came the shirt, back on the hanger and into the reject pile.

I did find two shirts that we both agreed on. Just to be on the safe side, I even sent a picture over to my friend Katrina, for a third opinion.

Kiera had a blast trying on clothes. We spent close to an hour in the store, laughing and giggling over different pieces.

“I think I have grown up a little. I kind of like shopping for clothes.” She told me as we stood at the counter paying for our purchases.

We had a lot of fun and it was even more fun seeing her take on clothes. Here are a few more moments that I had to struggle to contain my laughter.

“If they took the words off this shirt, it would be cute.” Kiera stated about a soft purple shirt with the word coffee emblazoned on it.

As we walked past a skimpy body suit, Kiera grabbed it and rubbed the material together. “Why? This is not even a fabric you would get wet!” She exclaimed indignantly thinking it was a swimsuit.

And the last one was just after she finished trying on clothes. She handed a couple of shirts to me to hang on the discard rack and said, “Make sure she (the clerk) puts this medium in the smalls and the small in the extra small. They are definitely not labeled correctly.”

Welcome to the wonderful world of clothes shopping, baby girl.

Rowonna McNeely works as the Communications Manager for the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband, Aaron are regular volunteers in the community, and have their hands full with their daughter, Kiera, along with three dogs and one cat.

Thank you for sharing in our weekly journeys. If you have missed any of our past stories, check out our blog page at www.lifea2k.net or drop us a line at lifea2k@yahoo.com.