Crossing the Aisle

Today I had to go shopping to get my boys some new clothes. They are growing like weeds and all their pants fall well above their ankles. As I made my way to the kid’s clothing department, I was going over each boy’s size in my head. My oldest son is already out of kid sizes so I knew I would need to go to the men’s department for his clothes. I am guessing my youngest is probably a size 7 now since all his size 6 pants are too short. I head towards the toddler boys section.

I start looking through the clearance section first, as always. I had no luck finding any size 7 clothes. As I move through the seasonal items, I am still not finding any size 7 clothes. Then it hits me, he’s outgrown the toddler boy’s department. 

He can no longer wear the cute Carter’s clothes. 

No more footie pajamas. 

Or little 3 piece outfits.

I need to go to the youth boy’s section and I was not mentally prepared for that. 

I have known I was done having kids for a while now but this realization hit me like a ton of bricks. As I cross the aisle I began to tear up. Why am I crying over clothes? Why is this so hard? Because it was another milestone in motherhood no one warned me about. 

We spend so much of the early years wishing our babies could do this or that, that by the time they do grow we feel like we missed it somehow. 

Now, I am starting a new chapter of motherhood without toddlers and footie pajamas. We have soccer balls and Pokemon shirts, laced shoes, and big boy undies. This isn’t so bad. 

So here is my warning to you, beware of crossing the aisle and mentally prepare yourself to cry in public over it.