We were met with summer-like weather…in February. The almost 90 degree temperature called for a little pool time. We dipped our toes in and soaked in some Vitamin D. It felt entirely inappropriate given that it’s supposed to be winter, but that’s global warming for you.

During the afternoon hours, I spent a good amount of time researching preschools. It felt like junior year of high school all over again. Scheduling campus tours, sizing up tuition rates, learning about teaching philosophies, and considering the cultural diversity of my soon-to-be two year old’s future classroom. We are actually pretty late with all of this. Some of our friends have had their kids on preschool waiting lists since birth. I know we will find the right place for K, but I’m currently overwhelmed.

I managed to make some veggie chili (recipe found in an old Rachael Ray magazine) for Super Bowl. So today’s dinner was chili leftovers and baked potatoes. I kinda love having leftovers on a Monday. It makes the start of the week seem so much more manageable.

I am a hot weather wimp. I’m a 75 degrees and sunny with a cool breeze gal. This is a long way of saying that I took K to the mall because being outdoors (per my winter challenge to get outside daily) was not an option.

We hadn’t been to the mall in several weeks and K was totally overstimulated. She had a meltdown over a balloon she saw in a jewelry store, was darting in front of people, and generally being a pain in my ass. But I breathed through it. I figure, TODDLER LIFE.

We ate lunch and I managed to purchase a few items I had been meaning to buy. I was even feeling smug enough to go in a dressing room to try on a shirt. I hadn’t done that since K was a tiny baby and couldn’t escape her stroller.

All was going fairly well until I caught K chewing on her sneaker. She was getting agitated and wanted to get my attention. So gross. I took off her shoes and threw them under the stroller. I picked up my final purchase at Nordstrom and we were on our way out. I got all the way back to my car, started unloading the stroller, and noticed we were minus a shoe.

SHIIIIIIT.

I would have just left it, but they were brand new $40 shoes. Someone was waiting for my parking spot. I had to wave them off and run back inside the mall. With a screaming toddler. I frantically looped back to all the places we had visited in the past twenty minutes. No shoe.

I was sweaty, stressed, and frustrated. I had salespeople looking for a denim toddler Mary Jane. Eventually, I had to chalk it up to a loss and leave or I was going to lose it. It was a somewhat dramatic end to an already interesting outing.

I made tacos for dinner and ate all my feelings.