Shoes

Kale HATES shoes. There, did you get that point?

When I was pregnant, I read somewhere that you should wait until your child is walking before introducing shoes. The book said that it would help thier feet develop properly and that learning to walk would be easier. Here is what the book didn't say. If you let your child go barefoot all summer and then try to introduce him to shoes, he will outright refuse them.

We bought him a pair of Crocs because he has wide fat feet. You can't get the second shoe even halfway on before he already has the other one off and most times is already working on taking off his sock. We bought him a pair of neoprene backed Crocs...those came off way faster than I could even put them on him....and so did his socks.

God blessed me during the Duck Duck Goose sale this fall. I came across a pair fo barely used Stride Rite shoes in size 5.5 wide. Kale was a shoe size 4 at that time. I was hoping that by the time we got to size 5.5 he would have decided that shoes were not the devil. He didn't get that memo. These shoes fit him now but he still hates shoes. HOWEVER, since they velcro shut and he has not figured out velcro just yet...IF you can get them on and velcroed...you are golden! That is a big fat IF though. See, when you try to put his foot in the shoe, he automatically curls up his toes. Ever try to put a fat wide foot with curled up toes into a shoe and get it velcroed...especially when that foot belongs to a rambunctios 13 month old boy? Let me tell you, its a workout! Seriously, it will make you sweat! I have done that workout twice in the last few days. Once I got those suckers on him, they stayed on for several hours.

Kale also forgets that he can still walk in shoes. It takes him a bit before he "remembers" that he can still walk around even though he now has on clunky shoes (and I am sure that is what he could call them). But once he remembers...look out...here he comes. And, if he could talk, he would be asking you to please take off his shoes!!!!

I have already started looking for his next pair of shoes...anybody priced a pair of Stride Rite toddler shoes lately? Um...$50 a pair! Since we need wide shoes, we may be forced into buying Stride Rite for a while...but that doesn't mean I won't be looking for other brands that carry a wide in toddler sizes!!!