Gametes In Love

Little S2 is a BIG shoe hater. Or something.

Actually, it’s not so much that he hates shoes, as much as he loooves taking them off… and tossing them.

He hasn’t lasted a car-ride with his shoes attached to his feet in weeks, and has also recently decided that as long as he’s not STANDING on his feet, and utilizing said shoes… they gotta go! Makes for fun trips to the grocery store, and most recently outdoor buggy rides.

On Monday as I went to get the kids from play-school (I’m adopting this term from Caillou), I was greeted at the door with a sad-faced Ms. J who told me that one of S2’s shoes is a no-show, and the last time it was seen was when they left for their afternoon buggy ride around the neighborhood. They had gone back to look for it to no avail. I’ll be honest, hearing this made me a little irked. Yes, it wasn’t the teachers’ fault the shoe was missing, but at $40 for a pair of shoes (that he outgrows every few months), I wasn’t looking forward to forking over more money for more things S2 can loose.

The next day, S2 came home sporting blue masking tape over the straps of his shoes. Tacky (ha! get it?), but  hey — effective. For the day following, I found a pair of Size 6 Carter’s shoes G never wore. They were brand new, hard-soled, still velcro strapped, but tighter around the ankle. They stayed on all day… even though S2 felt like he was wearing a boat around his foot (he’s a size 5-5.5).

Meanwhile, I called one of our local kids-shoes stores: it’s where we’ve been buying the boys’ stuff for awhile, and talked to the owner. She’s fantastic, and I’ve always felt in good hands with her. We talked over the phone — I told her my sad story, and she empathized, because she raised a shoe thrower too. Alas, she said, there were few solutions to my problem, and the primary one would be laced shoes. While a pain in the rear, I’m willing to commit to laces, if it will mean both shoes come home.

The next afternoon I finally had a chance to take the monkey to the (same) shoe store. The owner wasn’t there, but I had enough of our conversation together to tell them what I was suggested to look at. They measured his feet, in case he was tossing his shoes for being too tight: they weren’t, but was worthwhile doing anyway. The kicker, is that because he’s little, not many brands make shoes with laces in his size. As a matter of fact,t hey had NOTHING on-site to try. They did bring out two other pairs though: one from Jumping Jacks, and another from Keen. The Keen were a no-go right off the bat: they were sandals, and I’m not confident enough we’re done with rain for the season. The Jumping Jacks??? Well, lemme tell ya’

I put them on S2’s feet. Hard soled, and he’s still getting used to the idea. Yet, he waddled around in them just fine. They were Velcro, but it was a single Velcro closure that had to be opened by 2 tabs, each facing a different direction. At $48 for the pair, I wanted to be sure these would stay on. So I asked him “Hey, bud! Come over here and take off your shoes!” I sat him in my lap, lifted his leg up and watched him go. Kid took off the pair in no time flat, held the shoe up in his hand and waved it around. Thanx for saving me $50, buddy! We weren’t getting you those shoes 🙂

So all that was left was shopping by catalog. They showed me one pair from Stride Rite, whose shoes I love, and the kids have worn for years, that comes in laces. I ordered them that evening. Now we wait. They should arrive tomorrow. Perhaps they’ll stay on too.