Clip Clop Mama Rides Again

I'm not sure I've ever explained why I changed my blog title to "clip clop mama." I'm not sure I even know myself, but I'll try to explain it for fun and see where this goes.

Way back when Ivy was two, in the summer of 2010 (soooo long ago in toddler years), she learned how to say flip flops, only it came out "clip clops." She was enthralled with her clip clops. We bought her several pair. I remember sitting on the floor with her in Babies R Us trying on these blue flip flops, trying to find ones that would fit her fat little feet. They were the only pair left in her size - it was towards the end of summer. We bought them, but - like the others before them - they wouldn't stay on or hurt or feet. But she persisted, wanting to wear them despite the pain because she loved them so much. She would walk stiff-legged in them, like simply wearing them was special and also treacherous. Mostly we wound up carrying her while she proudly admired her clip clops.

It was, as I'm prone to say, the most adorable thing I've ever seen.... until it was topped a second later by the next adorable thing she did. In our house, clip clop stuck. I called my flip flops clip clops. My husband calls flip flops clip clops.

She's grown a little since then. She can almost say her 'f's and I haven't heard her say 'clip clops' since last summer. But I will forever call them clip clops.

This forever name change for our beloved summer footwear of choice is a stark reminder, to me, of how much I love my kids. How amazed I am by their very being. I wanted children from the time I knew what the word meant. I named Ivy 10 years before she was born, even getting a tatto in her future honor. I imagined having a child would change my life. That it has, even in ways I never could have imagined.

She, as my first born, changed my world, my perspective, my heart.... and what I will forever call my summer footwear of choice. Clip clops.

Post-note: The saga continues. Last night, we read a book called Clippity Clop, about a horse who gives piggy back rides to all the animals on the farm, all at once, and then flips them into the hay for fun - and they shout, "again!" Ivy says: That's you mama, like when you give me and baby Roy horsey rides! Yep, that's me. Clippity clip clop!