Shopping buddies and cargo pants

When Lesley-Anne was very young, I used to day dream about the day when the two of us can going shopping together, share clothes and beauty tips, etc. Well, she's now come of age and we do wear the same size shoes but that's where it stops.

Somewhere along the way, I managed to raise a girl with zero interest in her appearance. Asking her to go shopping for clothes or shoes is like asking her to go to the dentist. Once, I forced her to come shopping with me as she desperately needed some new shoes. She trailed along reluctantly and every pair I pointed to, she would merely glance at it and reply primly, "no thank you." After about a half hour, I grumbled in a huff, "What's the use of having a daughter if you can't go shopping with her?" Yes, I know it's a silly comment. Bahhh.

Up to about aged 7 or 8, Lesley-Anne still wore pretty dresses and cutesy hair pins, like most little girls. But these days, she's by and large a t-shirt and jeans gal. True to her personality, her idea of fashion is something that helps her blend in, not stand out, which means her clothes tend to be either in dark or dull hues. How to raid her wardrobe when her clothes are more conservative than mine?

Recently I brought her for a hair cut and the hairdresser suggested that she do a rebonding to tame her thick and unruly hair. In my mind, any other teenage girl would leap at the chance but no, Lesley-Anne was having none of it. There we were, the mum encouraging a frivolous beauty treatment and the daughter stubbornly putting her foot down. Someone should have put a box around the scene and asked "what's wrong with this picture?" Even the hairdresser was amused.

In contrast, Andre loves clothes and shoes. Even though at home, he rotates among his oldest, tattiest and most comfortable t-shirts, when he goes out, he dresses to impress (meaning stand out). His favourite colour is fire engine red - the brighter, the better. If he has to blind passers-by in the process, so be it. We like it cos he's easy to spot in a crowd, haha.

On one of my rare shopping trips with Lesley-Anne, I bought her a pair of cargo pants from Uniqlo. We love the kids' clothes there as they're comfortable and very reasonably priced. When Andre saw the purchase, he immediately held it against himself and said to me hopefully, "I think I can wear it."

In the end, I had to return to the store to get another pair for him. As it turns out, I found that I could fit into the largest kid's size so I bought one for myself too. At just $9.90 a pop, why not? Here we are, the three of us, in our Uniqlo cargo pants (there was a bright orange that Andre would have loved but they didn't have his size so he had to settle for khaki, which he consoled himself by saying it would go well with all his bright tees).

So for now, I'm adjusting my mindset. If I can't go shopping with my daughter, I'll just have to go with my son.