Tory Burch Makes Twinkle Toes

I know this isn't the first blog I've written where I've mentioned 'twinkle toes'.  Those are the shoes O saw a year ago on the feet of her best friend Nell, and decided that she would work me until she finally got them.  They are colorful, glittery, studded sneakers that light up when you run, walk or stomp.  However, for the small price of $41.95, I was hoping these shoes can at least uncork wine bottles.

Before buying them we went through our usual routine.  O tells me she wants them.  I tell her they are too expensive, mostly because I thought they looked like a pair of chucks that had been vandalized.  She goes to her piggy bank and counts her money.  She tells me she has a whopping $108.  (I love the way she counts money.  She counts quarters, pennies and dimes as dollars.  Nice try, O!)  I show her how to count money and we find that she actually has $17.23.  Wow!  You only need another $24.72 and you can get your sneakers.

She then begins to think of ways she can get her hands on $24.72.  First, she asked daddy if he might have $20 she can borrow.  He was already on to her.  Then she had a beautiful idea of  a lemonade stand, but since it was the middle of January and there was 20 inches of snow on the ground, she didn't sell anything and she sure wasn't willing to stay out there very long.  Now that's not to say we didn't take the time to try and teacher her that "perseverance pays".  Later in the Spring she tried the lemonade stand again, but it was in the midst of a hurricane and again, no takers and again, she did not want to man the stand.  

It was then that she made the ultimate decision to "find" money.  She became the Sherlock Holmes of money and she didn't even need a magnifying glass.  She could find a coin anywhere, even wedged in between the space going into the elevator shaft; requiring her parents to hold the elevator open until it could be dislodged - despite the alarms going off.  $17.24 in the piggy bank, $24.71 left to go.  She was one penny further to her goal and Doug and I were celebrating our magical disappearing act.  It wasn't until later we realized there were probably cameras watching us.  Good thing we were on our way to check out.

Her favorite place to find money was near the parking meters.  Yet, the value of each coin was still confusing; she would say she found four quarters and she would later become sad to learn it was only four nickles.  

We were on our way to the mall movie theaters when the earthquake hit.  We didn't really feel it since we were in the car, but we new something had happened as everyone in the building was on their way out and they were coming outside by the droves.  My husband called to see where we were and told me it was an earthquake.  When we arrived at the movies, we parked the car and headed through the mall entrance.  At this point you are probably asking why I would ever walk into a building that was being evacuated.  I see your point, however, I had bought my tickets online and needed a refund.  And like O, I was saving up for my own "Twinkle Toes" in the form of some Tory Burch flats.   Plus, it was hot and O was in the cranky zone.  


So when we opened the door to the mall entrance, a woman who had already been at the movies came out with her popcorn and her extra large coke, and said they were telling everyone to get out.  As I was talking to this woman, I hear O saying she found $20.  Right.  Sure you did.  I know this act, you mean four nickels?  When I looked down, there it was a $20 bill.  Wow!  So cool.  There were a lot of people around, so I gave a super quick 360 degree look around to assuage any guilt, and then grabbed her hand and bolted for the car to not disappoint O.  I wasn't about to ask anyone out loud in that crowd if they had lost $20.   Once we got home, we calculated.  We had $37.44 including the nickels.  "Goodness O, you only need $4.51!"  

The search was on for more money.  She looked everywhere.  She had to have those twinkle toe shoes and she was going to stop at nothing to get them.  Why in fact, one day I found her climbing up on our dresser to open the top drawer where my husband keeps his leftover change.  I stopped her to tell her that wouldn't work as that is Daddy's money.  

She then threw a temper tantrum.  I told her if she'd help feed our dog Wally morning and night, she could earn the money.  "That's too hard", she told me.  Too hard meant too often.  I knew I should have started with once a day.  "Well I'd hate to take away from your play plans, love.  How about once a day?"  She said no.  I said, "Why don't you tell me what will work."  She said, "I have an idea.  I want the "twinkle toes shoes" before school starts next week, so how about I feed Wally every day this week and then we can go to Nordstroms on Saturday."  I read once as parents we are never to negotiate with our children, but at this point I was ready to go to Nordstroms.  So she fed Wally morning and night, and with great satisfaction she ended up with a pair of "twinkle toes" on her feet for the first day of school.  I too was pleased as I too had my own pair of twinkle toes on my feet.  After all, it was the first day of my new job as a blog writer!  

I'm about to say something here that may make you think I've gone off the deep end.  Wait for it.  Wait for it.  Wait for it.  Twinkle toes shoes are truly magical.  No they can't uncork a bottle of wine, but they have lit the way, no pun intended, for an otherwise very shy child.  Whereever we are, people comment on her shoes.  As usual when someone says something to her, she looks down, but this time when she looks down, she has a reason.  Then when I ask her to show those who make such comments what the shoes do, she stomps and the twinkling lights make her smile as she looks up at them.  She doesn't have to say a word and they have no idea she's smiling at the excitement of the shoes.  Why in fact, they think she's smiling at them, so they smile back and sometimes they even giggle as does she.  

This morning there was so much conversation about her shoes at the bus stop.  After dropping her off, I came home and wrote to the company who created "twinkle toes": 

Thanks Sketchers, your shoes are worth every penny, nickle, dime, quarter, dollar and twenty dollar bill.  Although they can't uncork a bottle of wine, they continue to light the way for my daughter’s leap into her first year of school.

This afternoon when I picked up O from the bus she told me her shoes were getting too tight and they were hurting her.  "And anyways, Mommy", she said, "They have high top 'Twinkle Toes' now.  We should get those next."  Kindergarten SUCKS!