Never too young to play dress-up

I love both cheap and free things! When Grant was a new born and my mom suggested that we go to garage sales in search of baby things, I turned up my nose. I thought that there was no way in the world that I was going to put anything used on my pure and perfect baby. I have had a change of heart. I am now wise to fact that babies and little kids tend to outgrow things before they show much wear, so bring on the garage sales and the hand-me-downs.

We have actually been blessed with generous friends who have kids older than ours. One friend who has a little boy a couple years older than Grant has outfitted our son since he was about 9 months old. Another friend has a little girl who is just a little younger than Grant and passes on her daughter's clothes to Sophia. I also got to know the mother of a little boy in Grant's preschool class who is a bit bigger than Grant. This winter she brought two large bags of clothes for Grant. It's great.

We got our latest stash of hand me downs for Sophia this week--five bags full. It seems that my girl appreciates a bargain and new clothes as much as I do. We were quite the pair as we sorted through those clothes. Sophia would chose a piece of clothing, drape it over her head, and strike a pose. I'm really not exaggerating. She goes nuts over shoes, too. One of the bags had probably a dozen pairs of shoes in it, and Sophia went wild. She's quite the girlie girl. I must admit that I am a bit afraid for her teenage years. Do you suppose there is any room to hope she'll appreciate hand me downs when she is 16?