Anna Marie and I have a size crisis. Fortunately, she doesn't know about hers.
Mine is because I'm getting smaller, but not taller. Hers comes because she is getting bigger and taller.
Both of these are "good things" for us, respectively.
I spent a good bit of yesterday searching for a simple pair of khaki pants. I don't want much from a pair of khakis - they must fit (obviously), they must not taper at the ankle (don't want to look like an ice cream cone), and they really, really need to be petities (I'm 5'2" tall, on a good day.)
Things I don't need: pleats in the front, cargo pockets (I'll be wearing these pants to work), and, in the same vein, a loop of fabric for a hammer. I'm a newspaper reporter, for goodness sakes, not a carpenter.
Oh, and my budget must come into play - at this point in my "weight loss journey" I don't want to spend more than $10 for any one item of clothing. I never know how long I'll be wearing it before it gets too big.
I can't order off the internet, because I'm not really sure what size I am. When I look at the measurements on their sites, and look at my measurements, something isn't jiving up. They say I'm still the same size I was last year. I've lost over 60 lbs., so that can't be right. Otherwise, my clothes that are that size would still fit.
Idiots.
Anyway, my mom and Aunt Debi had been RAVING about the new Burlington Coat Factory that just opened up half an hour away. Keep in mind, they're both of a good height - around 5'7" or so.
I went, and, when I asked about petites, the "salesgirl" vaguely pointed me in some random direction, saying they were mixed in, before turning to a friend for some (important I'm sure) conversation.
I found one pair of khaki pants that were petites. They had pleats and tapered at the ankles. Two strikes against them.
It was during this time that I decided to meander over to the kids' clothes. Shocker number two: Anna Marie may or may not be in toddler sizes anymore.
She's turning 5 next week, and up until now, clothing sizes have been easy - peasy. What size does she wear? Well, how old is she? That was about the extent of it. Now, I discover that most manufacturers don't make a 5T. I thought I'd have at least one more year of shopping in the "infants/toddlers" section, but I may have to break into the big girl clothes earlier that I thought.
And, how will I know what size she wears, when it no longer goes by age? I don't understand the difference (if any) between size 4T and size 4. And what is this "6x" stuff all about? I was always a chunky girl, so normal kids sizes confuse me.
I was devistated. She's growing up. It isn't that I want another child right now. I know I can't handle that. I have to work full time, something I didn't do when Anna Marie was a baby, and I went through a really, really terrible bout of post-partum depression after she was born. I couldn't put my family through that again.
Well, after three more stores, I finally found a pair of pants. Not perfect, but OK. No cargo pockets, or tapering ankles, or hammer loops. And, only a few dollars over my $10 limit. I was so delirously happy, I didn't know what to do with myself.
(I guess I should add that in addition to the changing seasons and my weight loss, I have another reason to get new clothes - I've lost several peices of my already-small wardrobe in the last couple of weeks to mysterious bleach stains. I was pretty devistated over that, too.)
(I'm not joking! I thought I had another couple of weeks at least to wear them!)
So, here we Turner women go. I'm getting smaller, and she's growing up.
Both of us are entering uncharted wardrobe territory.
It's enough to make me wish for a fig leaf.
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