I have half an hour!! I have to use it!

Yesterday I had the most harrowing experience.  Two of our dearest friends are getting married on Friday and I had to go get my two girls something to wear to the wedding.  I could’nt leave Pieter alone at home, so of we went, all four of us to the mall. 

Everytime I take all three children to the mall, without Nestus to help me reign them in (especially Pieter) I end up being extremely irritated and tired.  So yesterday was no exception – except that it accually got worse! 

We had to shop for clothes, so we went only into clothing stores.  Pieter loves clothes shopping, he loves to run around and hide behind and underneath and sometimes even insides the clothesracks.  And I am super obsessed with the danger that something could happen to him.  I’m afraid he could run out the door and get lost, and then maybe a psychopath could get him and do something to him .  I normally try not to read newspapers or watch news, because everytime I hear something happened to a child, I get something new to be afraid of.  (Okay, I make it sound a lot worse than it is, but it is nearly that bad).  In any case, he ran around the shops, hiding everywhere, jumping out trying to scare us, and overall just being a clown.  Apparently my worries that he could get lost does’nt bother him to much, he feel quite safe in the knowledge that we will call him before we leave the shop.

Enette had to find a dress.  Okay, please imagine trying to find something to fit a girl that is so thin, the 6-7 year clothes are just about thin enough to stay on her body, only then the pants ride up her legs to just beneath her knees and the dresses all turn into miniskirts!  Finding shoes is even worse.  These long thin feet, a number 1 shoe is long enough but awesomely too wide!  To top it of, we obviously do not have the same taste in clothes.  I like the jeans with the nice orange jersey, she likes the thin sunny skirt and the flowery t-shirt (so what if it is autumn and she moans about her legs being cold in the morning when putting on a schooldress).  I like the girly, frilly and shorter blue and red dress, she prefer the more arty pink and flowery longer dress.  – Okay we bought the longer dress – she looks more like Enette in it .

And then last, but certainly not the least I had to find something to fit Laura.   I don’t now why but it seems as if children only wear clothes up untill more or less 9 years of age and then start dressing again maybe at about 15.  Seriously, there are minimal clothes available to fit, and all of it is so thin, it would fit Enette, only it would be miles too long!  So we moved over to adult clothes.  Maybe I could fit Laura in a number 30 women something.  To no avail – womans clothes have space for all kinds of curves and my eleven year old girl simply don’t have enough curves yet.  Everything is made for people with perfect bodies, all the girls of 11 tot 14 must have ultra thin waists (sometimes as thin as Enette’s – a 6-7 year fitting!!) And everything is made of stretch material that cling to every curve my less than perfect bodied eleven year old girl do have.  She got tired, I got tired, she started crying, I felt like crying, we fought, made peace, fought again, tried clothes on again, and again, and again.  It was a nightmare!! 

In the end, I could’nt do it, so after three hours of torturing children, running around and calling like a crazy woman (“Pieter, where are you?!” , “Pieter stop annoying your sister”, “Pieter, come stand here by me, don’t you dare disappear again”, “Pieter, I’m going to have to give you a hiding and then I will have to go to prison!” , “Okay Pieter, just stay in this fitting cubicle, I’ll lock you in, then I will at least know where you are .”), I eventually decided to throw in the towel and go home. 

When I got home, my most amazing, patient, beautifull, caring husband were back from work.  He took Laura back to the mall, I have no idea how he did it, but they came back with jeans and a beautyfull jersey that fits and at the some time looks quite cool!  My little girl beaming again, even willing to go back to buy shoes today – allthough I don’t think she would so willingly go with me again . 

Maybe next time, I’ll remember the horror and leave two of them somewhere, go buy what is needed, go back to the other two, have a little child exchange routine, take the next one to the mall and repeat the whole exercise untill everybody is dressed.  Maybe it would take me more hours, but I think I should consider my sanity more important than my time.