Size 12s

Claire has big feet. She and most of her 6-year-old friends wear the same shoe size. Today she was officially measured at a 12 1/2 (for a little growing room in there) which means she is actually surpassing some of those first graders. We tried to go Fall shoe shopping over the weekend but found nothing. The issue? Size 12s aren't quite toddler anymore, yet aren't quite "girl's" sizes either, so they are incredibly difficult to find.

And today it hit me that this is the perfect metaphor for Claire's stage in life. She's in between ... not quite a preschooler, not quite a school girl. Had she been born about 7 weeks earlier, she'd be going into Kindergarten today; instead, she's starting Pre-K at her regular preschool in September. She's yearning to join the big kids and yet she still has some preschooler left in her.

I'm glad we've got another year of preschool ahead. I don't think Claire is academically ready for Kindergarten (reading? no way she's ready!), so I think the extra year will help immensely in the long run. But socially she's ready, and she's bored by short 2 1/2-hour preschool sessions, so I see some struggles ahead this school year.

One thing's for certain: if the shoe size trend continues, she'll start Kindergarten next year with second-grader size feet.