God, where does the time go?

[conuly]

Monday the kids went to Bryant Park for the ice rink. The rink itself is free, but the skate rental is $20. And as I sat on the train with them it occurred to me that their feet are done growing. It is now more cost effective to purchase new skates for them than to rent them, at least if they go to Bryant Park to skate.

How did this even happen? It wasn't that long ago* that Ana grew three shoe sizes of the course of a summer.

* Don't tell me it was over a decade. It can't be that long since Ana was in kindy!

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Comments

[gwydion]

My Mother had had to buy my sister new shoes a week or two before she broke her leg. She adored them. They were two tone brown saddle shoes. It being summer though, she hadn't worn them that much when she got injured. By the tie the cast came off they barely fit and she had to get new ones. That's how fast she grew out of shoes. I remember them very well, as they turned out to fit a doll our better off Aunt and Uncle got her for her birthday that year, so there they were on this doll for years, one very scuffed, the other nearly new.

[conuly]

What timing! Sheesh.

[thewayne]

$20 to rent skates? Wow! 'Twere 50 cent in my day and they threw in a frozen lolly, too! GET OFF MY LAWN!

Actually I have no idea how much skate rentals were when I was young, but everything does get more expensive. I did come across paperbacks as I purge my storage locker that were $0.50 cover prices and I remember those prices back in the 1970s.

[conuly]

It's $20 because the rink itself is free. At other rinks, the rink is $15 and the rental is $5.

[thewayne]

I was thinking that was the likely explanation.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

??? How can their feet possibly be done growing yet?!? Don't believe it; they could both grow another full size in length before they're 18, and possibly another half-size after that, depending on their genes.

That said, it probably would be a lot more cost-effective to buy them new second-hand skates, of which there are always plenty, and then when they outgrow them, you can sell those off and buy some more.

[conuly]

Oh, they're definitely getting second hand skates. I am only somewhat certain that Eva's feet are done growing, she seems to be undergoing her first growth spurt in two years right now, and she hasn't started menstruating.

But Ana's feet haven't grown in three or four years, and they haven't gotten taller in the past year - and they have started menstruating on a somewhat regular schedule.

[conuly]

For the record, my feet stopped growing by high school. At that point I was a size 11, same as my mother.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Mine didn't stop till my mid-twenties - I'd outgrown my mother's size-7 shoes by age 11, a whole year before menarche. Not sure exactly when my daughter's feet stopped growing; will have to ask her.

[conuly]

When did you stop gaining height? (Excluding inches gained during pregnancy, which is a thing.)

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Don't really know, because nobody measured me after high school, but I'd been 5'7" then, and some time after college, I found I was 5'8". My shoulders got broader and my arms got longer too; all my sleeves were too short. (That's still a problem; women's blouses are just not cut right for me.)

I don't think I gained any height during pregnancy (I was 31 then) but don't recall anyone measuring. Now I'm 61, and back down to 5'7.5" - doubtless I will continue slowly shrinking, except for my feet, which slowly continue to grow wider.