Shoes that make me happy…

 

My little boy…the one who was such a little peanut, for so very long…who wore his 12 month clothes until he was nearly 18 months old…well, he’s not so little any more. He nearly skipped his 18 month clothes, only wearing them for about two months, before he jumped straight up to 24 month clothes. He still has his itty bitty, short little arms, but everything else is evening out. In fact, it’s becoming apparent that he might favor the men in my family, more than the men in Lo Gung’s family. How so?

Well, his YehYeh is 5’6”. He wears a size 7.5 shoe. His Poppy, on the other hand, is very nearly 6 feet tall, and wears a size 10, Double Wide. My two brothers shop on the same shoe aisle he does. Remember this. It’s important.

Now, last weekend, I noticed that the only shoes left in the shoe pile that would fit on my baby’s feet were…strappy sandals.  (Cause, you see, strappy means ADJUSTABLE WIDTH. ) Size 5. He’d been wearing them, every day, for play and for church, for….well, for several weeks. It was time to go shoe shopping.

*insert maniacal laughter*

When’s the last time you went shoe shopping with, and for, an 18 month old?? If it’s been a while, let me refresh your memory. You enter the Toddler Shoe section of the store, your son firmly strapped into a shopping cart so that he doesn’t empty all of the shelves before you can find what you need. Of course, the aisles are just narrow enough that there is no way to situate the cart so that he cannot reach any of the shoes. The first thing he goes for are, of course, the sparkly Dora sneakers that would fit his big sister. When you tell him that 1) you’re not putting sparkly, light-up Dora sneakers on his feet and 2) they wouldn’t fit him anyhow, he hurls the shoe across the store. You don’t stop to listen for the oof. Because if you hear the oof, that means the shoe actually hit someone. And that would be embarrassing, and might possibly have legal repercussions. So…just play it safe, and remain ignorant.  No oof, no foul.

Finally, you find the little boy shoes. Here are the size 5’s…you assume that he’d need the next size up. Pull out a cute size 6 church shoe. Try to put it on his foot.

It. Won’t. Go. On. Try a size 7. No dice. Look at the size 8s, realize that’s the same size his big sister (who’s 3) wears, and start to get a little worried. Go back to the size 6 shoes. Maybe you just chose the wrong style. Perhaps a nice Converse sneaker? Nope. A lace-up leather shoe? Ahhhh…nope. How about this one? (No.) This one? (Again, no.) Maybe this….nope! Bite back a groan as you see the only other shoe option on the shelf – little black sneakers. They look like old man shoes that Disney threw up on. Pull them off the shelf. Try them on his (now impatient and squirmy) feet, all the while dodging the shoes he’s still grabbing off the shelves and trying to throw at you.

No. Go.

You look around. You’ve tried on every shoe, in three different sizes, and nothing will go on his feet!

Start to leave the store…notice one more display of shoes, in the middle of the aisle. Clearance! That’s a good sign.

And then…Eureka!

A shoe so perfect, so fitting, so W.I.D.E., it can’t help but fit.

Nike, I think this is the start of a long, and beautiful (and wide!) friendship!!

(Let’s re-cap – if your child has feet that are nearly as wide, and tall, as they are long….look for Nike Airwalks, or a similar shoe. We found these on sale for $15 at Fred Meyer’s. Score!)