The Number Field

Because she is a diligent couponer and mommyblog reader, Jenny led a family outing to Target last week. She knew that they had started their summer clearances, and wanted to see what they had in Elena's size. She's still growing so quickly that she really needs them--we're talking about size sevens for a girl who isn't even eighteen months old yet!

For her part, Elena needed no instruction about what to do. She has an innate love for shoes. When we picked a pair off the rack, she would hold out her feet so we could put them on. She wanted to keep wearing them or at least hold onto the ones she liked. I think she did that so that we couldn't steal them away and return them to the shelves without her noticing, at which point she put up a fight. She knew that if she could just get them to the cashier, she would keep them. Luckily, we were able to impose our parental will through diversion and distraction.

We found two pairs of shoes that we liked: first, white slippers that looked nice enough for church and had enough ventilation for her feet to breathe in the summer days to come, we purchased on the spot. The second pair, pink sport sandals, were only 25% off, so Jenny said we should wait. Jenny and Elena made a return trip while I was away over the weekend and snapped them up--the discount had increased, it was the last pair in Elena's size, and they've already become her default everyday footwear.

Oddly enough, when we wandered through the Walmart shoe section yesterday, Elena didn't seem too interested. She certainly wasn't grabbing for anything she could get her hands on. Was it just an off night, or does she really prefer Target?