Shopping

Yesterday I discovered that my daughter doesn't have any fall clothing that fits. I tried multiple pairs of jeans on her but all were too small. I might add, they were all new pants that she had never worn. Jillian will be 3 years old on September 12. Having said that, all the pants I tried on her yesterday were a size 4. That means my 3 year old daughter needs size 5 pants.
So off I go to the mall at lunch time to buy her clothes. I was all gung ho at first but by the end I was totally frustrated and even sad. You see, I couldn't find anything in her size that was age appropriate. Everything at Walmart is TRASHY, The Children's place was too old, Sears had precious little of anything, and the Superstore had brown tweeed and black & gray tweed!! What the hell?? Jillian may wear bigger sizes but she's just a little girl and wants to wear cute clothes like her friends. This really makes me sad but it goes deeper than that.
Jillian, as I said, it very tall for her age. She is taller than most 4 year olds and had even been mistaken for a 5 year old. But as soon as she starts to talk, in my opinion, people should realize she's younger. Her speech is pretty good but her conversation topic is clearly that of a 3 year old. Because she is so much so tall, people hold her to a different standard. They expect her to act older than her three years. She is tall and gangly and, quite franky, doesn't have great control of her limbs. Consequently, she ends up hurting people without meaning too. Now, my child is a rough and tumble kid. She plays rough and I'm not foolish enough to think that her size is entirely the reason for that. The child will literally throw herself through the air at me. BUT she is so gangly that she falls just walking around the house. Again, she is a 3 year old in a big body and she get reprimanded for things she can't help.
She is also at 3 year old emotionally and that gets forgotten as well. She makes noise, her feelings get hurt easily etc. As a parent, its a bit difficult for me sometimes. I can plainly see that people forget she is only 3 years old. Sometimes, it's hard for me to keep my Mama Bear in check. If you know us and you are every in a position to watch, check it out - you'll see what I mean.
This topic is one I think of on a regular basis. It's been an issue since Jillian was very young. The first time I took her to Wilmot Park once she was walking, I got on the play equipment with her to help her. She would have been 18 mths old at the time. I actually overheard 2 other mothers commenting on me being over-protective by being on the equipment. I started a conversation with them and in the course of the conversation mentioned JJ was only 18 mths old. They were really surprised and thought she was well over 2 years old.
What started out as a fun trip to the mall ended with me feeling bad for my baby. I couldn't find any cute clothes for her and then started lamenting about her uphill battle. This probably doesn't seem like big deal to most but it hurts me.