Hi Ho Hi Ho, Back To School Shopping We Shall Go!

It's 9:30 a.m. on a cloudy, cool August morning. I'm in the car with the boys en route to Kohl's where I'm hoping we can begin and finish all our school shopping. I know it's a very ambitious goal, but Early Bird sales started this morning and I've got a 30% discount coupon, so bring on the savings!!!

Neither of the boys are particularly interested in getting new clothes (especially Nicholas because he hates trying them on) but they are very excited to get new shoes. Well, Nicholas is. He wants to find some "cool" shoes, whatever that means. Michael has been told that he has to get tie shoes this year. I would think that he would be embarrassed that his brother learned to tie his shoes before him, but, being part of the "velcro generation," he doesn't really care and remains loyal to the fuzzy fasteners.

We hit the clothes department first. The boys hightail it to the graphic t-shirt rack filled with all their favorites: Ninjago, Mario, Star Wars, and Angry Birds. After my discount the shirts will be about $5 each. It feels good to say yes when they ask me if they can get two shirts. My heart drops when Nicholas sees an Amazing Orange t-shirt and goes beserk: "Amazing Orange!!! I've always wanted this t-shirt! Can I get it Mom?!!" We look for his size and I am secretly relieved when we can't find it: it is a pretty obnoxious shirt.

We move on to the age 4-7 racks, where we find a plethora of shirts and pants that Nicholas is agreeable to. I like them also because they will end up costing about $6 each. Nicholas spots some grey and white camouflage pants that he likes. I find a 7 and grab a few more pairs in different colors. Same thing with shirts and sweat pants and soon my bag is full and we are done with him.

In the size 8-20 arena it's a different story. There are no $6 deals and I am hard pressed to find any $10 deals. All the clothes are Tony Hawk brand and Michael doesn't like them (only because that's what his brother is into and God forbid that they like the same thing!!).

As we search for jeans I realize that 9 year old boys have been gypped: manufacturers don't make pants for 9 year olds! The size range is 7, 8, and then 10/12. The size 8's are too small for Michael and the 10/12's are too big so we give up on jeans. We find a few shirts that he likes and then move on to shoes.

Nicholas immediately makes a bee-line straight for the Tony Hawk high-tops. "Mom, I want these!! These are the cool shoes I want!" he shrieks, holding up a pair of turquoise blue and yellow shiny high top shoes.  I'm not so thrilled. Nicholas doesn't need high tops - what he needs is an all-around pair of sneakers to run around in. I point out to him that these particular shoes have double the laces and would be really hard to manage. Wouldn't he like some nice yellow and black running shoes instead?  He shakes his head and whines, this stubborn boy of mine. Someday this trait of his that allows him to hold his ground so well will be a great asset, but right now it's wearing me out.

I tell him to wander the aisles and see if there's another pair of shoes that he might be interested in and move onto Michael who is pouting because I'm making him get tie shoes. I ask him if he's seen anything he likes.

"Yeah, I want those Skechers but you won't let me because they're not tie shoes. You never let me get anything I want!!" he whines. I picture a cartoon balloon above my head and think to myself, "Can I get some cheese with that whine?" I steer him to the aisles and he picks out a pair of nice, reasonably priced shoes. Then he has to put on his socks, which brings up another round of complaints. He finally gets one shoe on and immediately decides he doesn't like it because it feels weird.

I can see that we are not going to find shoes at Kohl's. Famous Footwear is a few stores down and they are having a BOGO (Buy One Get One half off) sale so I announce that we're going to try there next.

We check out, put the bag in the car, and head off to Famous Footwear. This time it is Michael that makes a bee-line to a shoe. It's a cool-looking neon yellow tie shoe but it costs $61, which is not in my budget. Michael gives me the "I can't-ever-get-what-I-want" schtik again and I've reached my limit.

"We're leaving," I announce abruptly, take the shoe from Michael's hand and put it back, and march toward the exit.

"Have a nice day," trills an employee.

"Yeah, right," I grumble to myself. Next time Jeff can take them shoe shopping.

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Later that night as I'm putting our purchases away I have Nicholas try on his clothes just to make sure they fit. The sweat pants fit fine but he can't even get the camo pants over his butt they're so tight. It's the same story with half of his shirts too.

"Ugh!" I moan, discouraged that I have to return half of the good deals I found today. I rewind in my head to earlier in the day to see if I can remember if I saw any 7X sizes. If not, this will be the end of our school shopping at Kohl's forever because I am not too impressed with the selection that I saw in the older boys' section.

Anyway, I'm not ready to have two boys in older boys' clothing. That would mean that they're growing up, and I'm not ready to accept that just quite yet!!