I've fallen............and I can't get up:

Somehow, I managed to make it 9 years with a girl child and never drifted into 'this place'.

Oh- we've seen it. She even asked to go there for a while. It was my understanding that this was a place for older children. Much older children.

Over the weekend, Allyson Emily and I got a few hours for some girl shopping (aka Allyson had no pants and we had to go). Turns out, Once Upon a Child does not carry big kid sizes, so play A was out the window. To the mall we went.

As we walked in, I was overtaken by the racks and racks of trendy girl clothes. My chest began to tighten. The sparkles and glitter began to blind me. I clung to my purse, begging Emily to stay close and hold my hand. It was a lot. A lot to try and breathe in as Allyson began saying 'look at this, look at that, look at this'.

Now mind you, Allyson is going through a 'phase'. Please, let this be a 'phase'. She used to not own a single stitch of clothing without sparkles on it. And if something was not sparkly enough, then she had belts and barretts to add some bling. And skirts, oh we had skirts. In fact, it was all she wore for a period of 6 months or so. She loved the girly stuff.

Now- she claims to want to dress like a boy. Sweat pants and pacers t-shirts. I struggle to get her into something other than that even for church. I'm dying over here.

So I was surprised that she got so excited at the aspect of going here, to this very flashy glittery store full of girly girl everything. But she did. And at the general idea of finding her some pants, I agreed. And possibly she will remember her glitter days and want to go back. Cover me, we're going in.

So there we were. Flashing lights, perfumed air, hip hop music lightly playing in the background, racks upon racks of tons of girls clothes, and salespeople constantly asking "Finding everything okay". "Uh yeah, we're fine" I kept muttering.

Upon closer examination, I realized their clothes start at size 6 and end at 16- Holy Cow we almost missed our brief window! This really is a kids clothing store. Quickly I began to grab pants and shirts, before Allyson outgrows them.

Armed with 14 pairs of jeans and 6 shirts, into the dressing room she went. If you can call it that. More like a shower stall. With a curtain instead of a door. But a seat for Emily, perfect.

After like 8 pairs of jeans, none of which fit (too big, too loose, too tight, too long) I noticed a chart on the wall of the chamber, I mean dressing room. "If pants are too long, or you need more room in the hips, try this: If your normal size is a 16, multiply by 2, subtract 6, spin in a circle 3 times, jump up and down, add 7, remove .5 and voila!"

Huh?

Turns out, we needed to move to 1/2 sizes. So we went down 4 sizes and added a 1/2 and the pants began to fit. We were onto something.

In the end, we were able to purchase two pairs of jeans (only one of which will need hemmed), 2 shirts (one is actually okay for church), a tank top cami (because everything they make for young ladies is way too short and has a plunging neckline) and a webkinz dolphin for her friends birthday party. Success?

I'm not sure.

It was fun to shop with the girls, regardless. We don't get many girl times, and Sam puts a real kink into shopping. But having the stroller is a plus, so I guess in a weird way we kind of missed him. But not when we went to that cookie store, you know, the one with the sign that reads "If you suffer from a nut allergy, do not consume our products". We totally went there. Without peanut boy, the sky was the limit!

Afterwards, we went to Children's Place to get Emi something new. She didn't need anything, but after her 60+ minutes of patience in ally's store (I guess you can call it that), I figured she needed a bag of something for herself. They did have stuff that would fit her in glittery haven, but nothing seemed to be cheaper than $39.50- so I was not going there! Even if it was buy 2 get one free.

Here's the kicker. They were having this promotion at the Limited Too, so we left not only with our bag of clothes, but a handful of coupons. Really good coupons, each with their own corresponding date as to when they can be used. So of course we will have to go back. And no doubt they will have some other promotion, to make us have to return after that. See the cycle, we're stuck. Like being sucked into a tornado. We can't stop now.

Prepare yourselves, your young women will not forever be satisfied with your selections. They too will hear of this place, and they will want to go. Apparently there are others as well. Abersomething or other?

I like Babies R Us, and the Children's Place, Baby Gap, and the toddler section at Target. And I love garage sales. There are always tons of clothes at garage sales when kids are young. But once bigger, all bets are off. The options are narrowed and the scorecards are out. I wish you luck. And should you ever find me curled in a ball under a rounder rack in the 'teen' section sucking my thumb, feel free to join me.