Da Frog Shoes

I experienced another shining moment as a mother today. A moment where I am confident that my life could make for a very popular reality show.

I have noticed that it is taking increasingly longer to get the children ready in the morning. Perhaps I am enjoying the days of summer when there isn't anywhere to be or anything to get done. It also helps that Josie and Owen behave unusually well in the morning and I can actually get a few things done on my own.

This morning I watched while Josie and Owen sat in the playroom sharing books, passing them back and forth to each other politely. Pleases and thank-yous with each exchange. I couldn't help but laugh aloud because clearly they were playing pretend. Pretending to be well-mannered children.

I gathered their clothes and slowly but surely lured them close enough so I could grab them and get them dressed. Josie put on her shoes and I "helped" Owen put his shoes on by himself.

They ran around the kitchen for a minute while I got my stuff together. I opened the door to the garage and then the race was on to see who was going to get in the car first.

"I'm first!" Josie screamed as she took off in a full sprint leaving Owen in the dust.

"No I first!" Owen yelled as he ran through a cloud of Josie's dust.

I got them both in their carseats. I got in the car and looked in the rearview mirror to double check they were both buckled. Check. Check. Now we were off to the outlets armed with a roll of quarters to bribe them with rides on the toy trains strategically situated in between each store.

I parked my car at the outlets. I got the stroller out of the back and opened Owen's door to get him out first, despite the protests from the queen of doing everything first.

"Your shoes!" I screamed as I looked down at his chubby, bare feet. I looked all over the car before asking, "Where are your shoes Owen?"

"Ummmm, In the kitchen," He said.

"Under the table," Josie said without looking up from her dora book. Apparently Josie had "helped" Owen take his shoes off by himself.

"Guys, we have to work together!" I said. They both looked my direction as if to say, is it our fault we're the only ones who noticed Owen wasn't wearing shoes when he got in the car?

The solution seemed simple enough. Owen needed new tennis shoes and the stride rite shore was just a few stores down from our perfect parking spot.

After the tenth pair, I got tired of listening to Owen scream "Too tight mommy! Too tight!"

"You need shoes Owen if you want to go on the rides and walk around," I said.

He peered around me and locked in on something hanging on a rack in the corner of the store. Bright blue frogs with big bug eyes that somehow transformed into a sandal.

"That shoes," he said and pointed to my worst nightmare. "Da frog shoes" he said in case there was any confusion.

I walked over praying they were the wrong size or ridiculously expensive so I could rationalize not giving in. Size 8. Perfect Size. Clearence $9.99. Perfect Price.

While I put them on his feet, Josie said, "I want those too." Fortunately, they were the last pair of frog shoes in the whole store. Probably in the whole world.