Navigating the Waters of Womanhood

Yesterday Whitney and I had a Mommy/Daughter Day just the two of us. Our main goal -finding out what size Whitney is in misses/juniors sizes and getting some pants. I have been crying and lamenting the fact that she has outgrown girls sizes. With equally heavy doses of avoidance and denial. Maybe you're asking yourself why I'm having such a strong reaction to this event. Here's what I've come up with in no particular order:

1.) Misses sizes are more expensive.
2.) I can't shop for her without her there to try things on.
3.) Many styles are way too mature for a 10 year old girl.
4.) I can no longer dress her and Ashlyn alike.
5.) She is growing up too fast!
6.) I remember when I was in that limbo land between girls and juniors sizes and nothing seemed to fit right.

She can still wear some girls size 14's but I finally had to face the fact that she is 5 foot tall and wears a 6 1/2 in womens shoes. We started off at Old Navy where we had to return a pair of girls too small, size 14 pants that I had gotten her for her birthday. We tried on about 10 pairs of pants and came out with one pair. I know this will sound all too familiar to all you women out there. One size 2 was a tad small one 2 was huge . . . you know how it goes. Lets just say Whitney was not enjoying the experience. She wanted to know why they didn't just make all size 2's the same size. This is something her father has yet to understand. Every time he goes shopping with me he wants to know why I simply can't just breeze in buy "my size" and be on my merry way. He "never tries on anything he just gets his size and it fits every time". This is where I slap him for being such an ingrate. Just kidding, though I sometimes have to strive very hard not to. =) And the plethora of styles and cuts! As anyone who knows Whitney will attest she asks many, many questions. She also wanted to know what the difference was between the diva, the flirt, the sweetheart, boot leg, straight leg , skinny leg, low rise, mid rise . . . and the list goes on. Next was JC Penney's where I had to explain the different categories of womens sizes petites, juniors, misses, womens when she thought she had located the right department and I had to point out we were in womens/plus sizes. Which reminded me of the time (around a year ago) when she came upon a table of thong panties, held up a pair and asked me what they were. I told her they were panties. Her reaction: a look of utter disbelief, while saying NUN-UH! Seriously, one needs an experienced tour guide to navigate the mall. No wonder most men are at such a loss when trying to shop for their woman. After about 3 hours of shopping she announced herself "exhausted" and said "I never knew shopping was so tiring!" Next obstacle to hurdle - shopping for her first big girl bra.