New Shoes

The last time we bought Jack new sneakers was in November of 2005. Yes, I said, 2005. He has worn the same sneakers every day for 14 months. Yes, we got them a little bit big at the time, but this is probably the longest stretch of his life where we will not have to buy him shoes. The other day I was putting his sneakers on so we could leave the house and as I tied the second shoe he said, "something in my shoe hurts." After investigating that there weren't any foreign objects in his shoe, I attempted to put it back on him. He said it still hurt and that the other one hurt too. The shoes had finally gotten too small. So he wore his church shoes around for a couple of days (which looked awfully cute and preppy with his jeans and Mater T-shirt.)

Yesterday I hauled the kids out to Kohl's to get Jack new sneakers. He was so excited! While we were looking for the shoe department, he galloped around saying, "I like new shoes!"

I scoured the shelves for (preferably) New Balance sneakers for toddlers, but they had the worst selection of styles and even fewer actually in his size. I looked and looked and looked and told Jack, "I don't think we're going to be able to find you new shoes today." He was so sad and disappointed. But we kept looking and I found a display of Osh Kosh shoes that were sneaker-like, but brown and very cute. And they had his size! Once I put them on him he didn't take them off. He loved looking at them while I tied them and he proudly held still while I felt for his toe. He gleefully walked around and ran up and down the aisles so I could see that they were a good fit and he didn't fall down in them. As I was putting away the other sizes and shoes wee had laying on the floor, he said, "I like how they smell!" And, yes, they had a new shoe smell. Sort of a plastic-y odor that reminded me not to be alone with them in a tight space.

So, we will still be on the lookout for more traditional sneakers, but these are so cute!