Jul. 7: Super terrific happy thing #18

Today’s super terrific happy thing:

Seeing one’s child reach a milestone that absolutely thrills them.

The last time I took Katie shoe-shopping, she wore a kids’ size three. We had a hard time agreeing on which shoes were right for her because so many were babyish, and the ones that were age-appropriate were hideous. That was my opinion, anyway. We usually do okay shopping together—her tastes aren’t too far off from mine—but finding shoes has been a real struggle over the past year. She’s gone shopping more frequently with her grandmothers since then, and quite frankly, I haven’t paid any attention to the size shoe that currently fits her.

Last week I took Katie shopping for flip-flops, and she found a super-cute pair in a ladies’ size five. A FIVE! And they fit! My little girl is in big girl shoes! This is HUGE.

I remember making the transition from kiddie shoe sizes myself, and how suddenly fun it was to go to shoe stores and try on the highest heels I could find. My very wise mom knew better than to let me get them, but I loved looking at my feet in heels in the shoe store’s low angled mirrors. I felt like such a grown-up from the calves down! Best of all, even if I couldn’t go home with the shoes I really wanted, I wasn’t forced to buy anything that a three-year-old would wear.

Once we discovered that Katie had moved into adult sizes, it didn’t take much encouraging to get her to try on a pair of high heeled shoes. Her grin was enormous. When she begged to buy them, I told her they weren’t very good for running around, and to prove me wrong, she ran from one end of the shoe department to the other in four-inch heels. The shocking part is that she did it without tripping or twisting her ankle. Still, the girl inherited my clumsiness; it’s only a matter of time before those heels would hurt her and hurt her good. You know it and I know it.

I’m hopeful that a new size range will expand our shoe-shopping possibilities (in a good way) in future years. We shall see. For now, I’ll enjoy the super terrific happiness of my girl and her “big” feet.