Of Boots and Shoes (Yes, Winter Has Arrived)

It snowed today: fat, white, wet clumps of snow that created a fluffy fairy filling on all the bare tree branches. The roads were wet but not really slushy with this early snow, so we could largely just enjoy the view out our windows.

And go snow boot shopping. (A word to the wise, Kohl's is having a 50% off sale on boots right now.)

Daughter wanted pink, of course. That may seem like a no-brainer (after all, there are plenty of pink boots out there), but Mama is more picky. I insist on thick linings for warmth and water-resistant exteriors rather than that silly suede or fashion fabric stuff that half the toddler boots are made of. Honestly, she's not going to be wearing them for a fashion parade. She needs them to keep her warm and dry while playing in the snow. They are called SNOW boots, after all.

Also, pink itself was not my favorite color choice due to the rest of her winter ensemble, so I was trying to steer her away from the dark pepto-bismol pink boots that drew her eye like a moth to flame. I did manage to score a very pale pink boot for her, with a thick blacky rubbery sole -- sweet, servicable, and not too flashy.

Not too flashy is important considering that she currently has a bright lime green coat decorated with a zebra and a few small bits of red trim (Kooshies' crazy fun color scheme). Unfortunately, this coat is leftover from last year, and thus the matching snowpants no longer fit. So, she can either wear Son's hand-me-down red snow pants and look something like a Christmas elf who favors neon green over pine green. Or I can try to squeeze her into the plain black snow pants that are a bit bigger than the green ones but are still a bit small.

I priced new snowsuits and was horrified. (Last year's had come from a clearance rack the previous summer; Son has had hand-me-downs from friends in the past, and his current fantastic down-filled parka came from a consignment shop.) $75 for pants and coat sets that are only marginally cute and don't seem that warm to me, made from cheapish nylon fabric, was pretty common. Unbelievable.

So I think I might be trotting myself down to the consignment shop again soon, since I don't know that I can bear to put her in red pants, a bright neon lime green coat, powder pink-and-black boots, and a zebra striped hat every single day from now until the end of March. Also, the sleeves on the green coat are just barely long enough, which means that by late December they will be too short, which really matters when you are trying to keep snow out of toddler mittens every day at preschool.

To sum up the boot-shopping lesson: the excellent half-price Totes boots that we purchased for Daughter did not in fact save us $20 but have highlighted that we simply have yet to spend untold $ on the rest of her winter gear.

(Also, can we please pause here for a moment to add this up? Full-price snowsuit: $75. Full-price snow boots: $40. Hat and mittens: $10 each. Total to outfit a TWO YEAR OLD with necessary winter gear, new? $135. For items she will outgrow before they are anything like worn out. Is it any wonder that I favor consignment shops for coats and snow pants?)

But the real reason I started this post was to vent my spleen about shoe sizes.

Can someone please explain to me WHY on EARTH shoes run from toddler sizes 1-12, then start again at 1, and yet almost no manufacturer makes size 12 shoes????

Some makers do a 12 and a 13. Others do only a 12 before they go up to 1. But this is all only in theory. We went to three stores trying to buy boots for Son. And we weren't at the mall, either, so we had to load and unload two kids into complicated carseat buckles three times after crossing many parking lots in driving wind filled with thick wet swirling snow, which was less than my ideal way to spend the afternoon in the snow. Here is what happens when you go into a store to buy size 12 shoes or boots:

There are eight gazillion pairs of size 11. There are six frillion pairs of size 1. There are two lonely pairs of size 12. Both ugly. So ugly you can't even imagine that a person with eyes designed them. And there are three other mothers standing next to you, half forlorn, half angry, trying to decide whether to resign themselves to trying yet another store with their grumpy 4/5/6 year old or to hit you with said preschooler and grab the ugly ugly shoes out from under you before you and your grumpy preschooler can make off with one of the only two pairs in the entire store that will fit the four pairs of feet that need to buy that particular size right this minute.

Son is very picky about his footwear. There are some indefinable qualities of coolness that he applies to his decision about whether a shoe is worth trying on. Awesome retro lace-up shoes with side stripes reminiscent of old-style leather tennis shoes? He hated them. On the other hand, he also inexplicably rejected the Spiderman snow boots (a first). Such pickiness is particularly difficult when, as I say, there are almost no choices in his size to begin with.

We did finally manage to buy him snow boots (size 13; they're a little too big, but what could we do? There were no size 12s). He chose them largely on the basis of how stompy they were. He, obviously, needed boots that were good for stomping. I am just grateful that they met my prerequisites. But I despair of the fact that his everyday shoes are clearly showing signs of the hard wear that only preschoolers are capable of, and I will have to buy him some more soon. In size 12. Which doesn't exist. Except that 11 is too small and 1 is too big because it is TWO sizes bigger than 11.

Apparently, shoe makers think that all humans go through a Twilight Zone of life during which they do not need foot coverings of any kind and will then miraculously return from this alternate universe (where it is always hot summer and everyone lives on the beach) having grown two shoe sizes and now ready for the young adult size 1 shoe.

Somehow, I don't think Michigan in winter is the best time for that shoeless Twilight Zone of existence. And so, to the other desperate mothers standing next to me in whatever shoestore I try next, I offer my condolences. Because I will smile at you sympathetically, but unless you are shopping for something pink for your daughter in a size 12, I WILL beat you to anything size 12 in the store.