Pretty In Pink

One of the things I don't want to let go of as a mom is buying the kids shoes, so since it's already cool autumn weather, I went out with Kalian to buy her first real pair of shoes today. I ended up driving out to Wild Child in Arlington - an amazing store of very expensive but gorgeous maternity and kids clothes and accessories. I wanted her to have a good pair of shoes but also something fun. The store manager brought out three pairs of pink, yes pink shoes. One pair of Ecco shoes seemd like the perfect rugged style I wanted for her - not like the Mary Jane type she had also brought out, but they were raspberry pink. I asked her if they came in any other color - she said brown. I said great. She brought them out, but meanwhile I had put Kalian in the pink pair to check out the fit. She was having a blast at the store. Very kid friendly. It was so nice just to be out with one kid. It was so easy!

Anyway, the shoes were adorable, but there was something inside of me that said, "you can't buy her pink shoes!" So after deliberating and shopping for over 20 minutes, I asked the salesperson for the brown pair, paid for them and was about to pick her up, when I thought, "these are fun - it's ok if she has pink shoes!" and I got her the pink shoes. The saleslady said, "You won't regret it."

When I brought them home, Liam wanted to play shoe store (thanks to the great pretend play at Heart of a Child, his beloved Berkeley preschool) with her shoes, and he also really wanted to put her shoes on her all by himself and tie them. He just can't quite manage it, and Kalian was getting frustrated, so I, unfortunately, had to do most of it myself, so Kalian wouldn't trip on the shoelaces. It all definitely inspired me to get a new pair for Liam.

Anyway, we then finished getting the kids dressed, and we threw the kids in the charriot bike trailer/stroller and walked over to the K school for a barbeque for all of the K school students. It was packed with all of the younger mpp and mpa students there. Chris met a mom with a toddler Kalian's age, and then we also started chatting with another mom - S - that I had met who also has a toddler. They are both boys and started to splash around in a mud puddle. Of course, Kalian wanted to play there, too, but I kept her from getting wet. Was it because her shoes are new? Or was it because they were pink? I thought about these questions and wondered if this is yet another manifestation of how our culture keeps women down - is it worse to get pastels dirty - colors that girls are thrust into? than to get brown/blues dirty - colors of clothes made for boys? Would I have done the same thing for Liam? if her shoes had been brown? Ultimately, for me, at least, they were cool new shoes that I just wasn't ready to get caked in mud, though I'm sure they will be soon.

A few moments later, Kalian had found a soccer ball and literally spent the next 15 minutes kicking it around the courtyard in her new pink shoes.