Men love baby shoes, too

We've all seen it: A young woman, a young man (presumably a couple) wandering through the aisles of some big chain store (Walmart, Target, take your pick). They seem to be just killing time, happily enough, until suddenly...

"Oh my GOSH!" she shrieks. "Look at these! They are SO CUTE!!" The man smiles nervously, nods, and looks awkwardly about for an escape route. Any escape route. Or at least a Stallone movie he can look at.

That's right. They've stumbled into the baby section.

There's no escaping the inexplicable love that most women have for baby clothes. Or shoes. Or hats. Or whiskey flasks. I mean, they're just so little ... and darn adorable.

But while it's no surprise that women love these things, I was surprised today when a realization hit me like a Mack truck hits a toad: My husband, deep down, is "that woman." Minus the insane shrieking.

This occurred to me today after my husband took our son to Walmart under the pretense of grocery shopping. To be fair, I did tell him that if he was so inclined, he could swing through the toddler section and see if they had any cheap clothes or shoes. When I returned home from work, my son had two pairs of new shoes: one $5 pair of Spider Man tennis shoes with lights in them (good deal) and a pair of camouflage cowboy boots, which I know from shopping were one of the more expensive shoes on the rack.

My husband's reasoning for the camo boots: "He needed them. And they fit great, with room to grow." Fair enough. I also found out our son got two plastic animal toys for being good in the store. They were a buck a piece. Fair enough.

The kicker was when I saw the pajamas my husband bought. I had instructed him to look for sweatpants -- regular, not pajamas -- that had elastic on the ankles so our son wouldn't trip over them if they were too long. Sam showed me the "outfit" he bought and how it had elastic around the ankles. And then the price. I told him, "Those are pajamas."

Sam replied, "Yeah, but they're cute. AND, they've got camo on them. He had to have them."

 That's when it hit me. The adorable little reindeer jumper we got our son for his first Christmas season? Sam's idea. ("He needs this.") The camo pajama set from Bass Pro shops when our son was 18 months? Sam's idea. ("He needs these.") Heck, since Sam has gotten into tanning animal hides, his biggest goal in life is to make our son a coonskin robe. And, you guessed it ... our son needs that too.

I'm certainly not complaining. I love it that my husband is so into his little boy that he feels the need to dress him in 'coon hides and camouflage, because that's what Dad's into. But I can't help but look back on all those times, before our son, before I was even pregnant, when I would squeal over baby shoes, and Sam would roll his eyes.

Hey, turnabout's fair play.