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Aug. 21st, 2004 11:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naomikritzerI meant to grouse about this last Sunday, and got distracted, but I was reminded of this again today, so here's the rant.
I went shopping for certain children's items...
You'd think that in a capitalist society, demand would typically equal supply. If there are people who want to buy something, the idea goes, people will make and sell it.
So, we're in need of a new high chair. I bought a used one before Molly was born. It was in bad, bad shape, complete with a bad split down the vinyl seat that made it difficult to clean. I could have repaired it with duct tape, sorta, but there were other problems with it. So we took it with us to Ohio in July, and then left it behind. I figured we'd just buy a new one.
Bad assumption.
My requirements in a high chair are very simple. (1) The tray must go on and come off from the top, rather than sliding on from the front. (2) It must be easy to clean. You'd think that #2, in particular, would be in the Basic Job Requirements for High Chairs that Ever Parent Alive would have. Yet every single high chair at Babies R Us has this bizarre pillowy seat cushion that fans out behind the baby's head. Most were made out of wipeable vinyl, but still, little wrinkles and crevices for baby food to lodge in are not what I want. Amazingly, about a quarter of them had actual cloth cushions full of little wrinkles and crevices. They're machine washable, because apparently I want to do laundry every single night!
There is one high chair, available at Target, that has the plain smooth vinyl seats like my old high chair. For those who want the fancy pillowy thing, it has a detachable one. Unfortunately, the tray for this one slides on from the front. I will probably end up buying it anyway, as the top-loading tray is more negotiable than the ease of cleaning.
I was thinking about this because yesterday, someone gave away a high chair on Freecycle. Turns out it was exactly what I wanted and in excellent condition but I didn't get there fast enough. I'm toying with the idea of asking for the e-mail address of the person who got it, so that I can contact them and offer them $50 for it.
The shopping trip last Sunday included Babies R Us, USA Baby, and Target, to look for a high chair. Then I went to Kohls to look for pants for Molly, which was, if possible, even more infuriating. Last fall, Molly was in 4T, and all of those pants are now about four inches too short. A year ago, Molly didn't at all mind used clothing -- she liked a large selection of contrasting fabrics so that she could mix and match. Now she prefers that her clothing is new, and matching, so I'm buying her at least a few items off the rack. Unfortunately, Mervyns -- my old source for inexpensive new Molly clothes -- has closed. (Or was closing. Is it closed yet? I'll admit I haven't been over there to look, but I would not expect to find much in the way of new stuff for fall, if I go.) So, since I was in the south suburbs anyway, I went to Kohls, which is very similar to Mervyn's but slightly more expensive.
I wanted to buy her a girl's 5, but it turns out that they do not have anything in size 5. No, really. They have size 4. They have size 6 and 6X. They have NOTHING in 5, apparently (I overheard an employee explaining this to another mom) because the factory didn't make that size this year. It's not that there was a run on the clothing, it's not that there was a mistake at this Kohls, but from what I overheard, apparently no Kohls anywhere has clothing in this size.
And to top it off: Target carries size 4T and then goes to a girl's size 4/5. (If this makes no sense to you, I could provide a primer of How Child Sizing Works, at least up to the size Molly is on, but I doubt that it would clear up much of anything.) I bought two pairs of size 4/5 flares for Molly. They're too long. 4T, however, is unquestionably too short. The verdict is clear: Molly is the Wrong Size. No one will sell me clothes that actually fit my child. I can choose between too short and too long. I suspect that if I shop at the expensive stores I would be able to find clothes that fit her, but I've been wrong about that sort of thing before. Besides, the high chair I want is apparently unavailable at any price.
I should go back to Kohls and buy Molly some of the pants in size 4. Size 5 probably would've been too long anyway. Her dresses are size 5 and fit well, but given my experience with the Target pants... I really need to just take Molly shopping, but I hate disappointing her by having her try things on and then not buying them for her.
Anyway, if anyone knows where I can get the sort of high chair that I want, let me know...
I went shopping for certain children's items...
You'd think that in a capitalist society, demand would typically equal supply. If there are people who want to buy something, the idea goes, people will make and sell it.
So, we're in need of a new high chair. I bought a used one before Molly was born. It was in bad, bad shape, complete with a bad split down the vinyl seat that made it difficult to clean. I could have repaired it with duct tape, sorta, but there were other problems with it. So we took it with us to Ohio in July, and then left it behind. I figured we'd just buy a new one.
Bad assumption.
My requirements in a high chair are very simple. (1) The tray must go on and come off from the top, rather than sliding on from the front. (2) It must be easy to clean. You'd think that #2, in particular, would be in the Basic Job Requirements for High Chairs that Ever Parent Alive would have. Yet every single high chair at Babies R Us has this bizarre pillowy seat cushion that fans out behind the baby's head. Most were made out of wipeable vinyl, but still, little wrinkles and crevices for baby food to lodge in are not what I want. Amazingly, about a quarter of them had actual cloth cushions full of little wrinkles and crevices. They're machine washable, because apparently I want to do laundry every single night!
There is one high chair, available at Target, that has the plain smooth vinyl seats like my old high chair. For those who want the fancy pillowy thing, it has a detachable one. Unfortunately, the tray for this one slides on from the front. I will probably end up buying it anyway, as the top-loading tray is more negotiable than the ease of cleaning.
I was thinking about this because yesterday, someone gave away a high chair on Freecycle. Turns out it was exactly what I wanted and in excellent condition but I didn't get there fast enough. I'm toying with the idea of asking for the e-mail address of the person who got it, so that I can contact them and offer them $50 for it.
The shopping trip last Sunday included Babies R Us, USA Baby, and Target, to look for a high chair. Then I went to Kohls to look for pants for Molly, which was, if possible, even more infuriating. Last fall, Molly was in 4T, and all of those pants are now about four inches too short. A year ago, Molly didn't at all mind used clothing -- she liked a large selection of contrasting fabrics so that she could mix and match. Now she prefers that her clothing is new, and matching, so I'm buying her at least a few items off the rack. Unfortunately, Mervyns -- my old source for inexpensive new Molly clothes -- has closed. (Or was closing. Is it closed yet? I'll admit I haven't been over there to look, but I would not expect to find much in the way of new stuff for fall, if I go.) So, since I was in the south suburbs anyway, I went to Kohls, which is very similar to Mervyn's but slightly more expensive.
I wanted to buy her a girl's 5, but it turns out that they do not have anything in size 5. No, really. They have size 4. They have size 6 and 6X. They have NOTHING in 5, apparently (I overheard an employee explaining this to another mom) because the factory didn't make that size this year. It's not that there was a run on the clothing, it's not that there was a mistake at this Kohls, but from what I overheard, apparently no Kohls anywhere has clothing in this size.
And to top it off: Target carries size 4T and then goes to a girl's size 4/5. (If this makes no sense to you, I could provide a primer of How Child Sizing Works, at least up to the size Molly is on, but I doubt that it would clear up much of anything.) I bought two pairs of size 4/5 flares for Molly. They're too long. 4T, however, is unquestionably too short. The verdict is clear: Molly is the Wrong Size. No one will sell me clothes that actually fit my child. I can choose between too short and too long. I suspect that if I shop at the expensive stores I would be able to find clothes that fit her, but I've been wrong about that sort of thing before. Besides, the high chair I want is apparently unavailable at any price.
I should go back to Kohls and buy Molly some of the pants in size 4. Size 5 probably would've been too long anyway. Her dresses are size 5 and fit well, but given my experience with the Target pants... I really need to just take Molly shopping, but I hate disappointing her by having her try things on and then not buying them for her.
Anyway, if anyone knows where I can get the sort of high chair that I want, let me know...
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Date: 2004-08-21 05:33 pm (UTC)Everything with elastic in it will last longer if it's not tumble-dried. (My socks stopped falling down, since I discovered this. Er...also since I moved to where I pay $1.50 per dryer load.) If you're talking about leggings that are mostly cotton with just a few percent lycra, they can probably survive 2 years of being tumble dried on low. Then they'll stretch out and you'll see shreds of elastic poking through the cloth in places where it stretches or rubs.