Well, I suppose it had to happen at some point....
I would have an "ah ha!" moment and realize I had been completely wrong about something totally obvious.... and what was it?
Shoe size.
In my defense, I will say that all shoes are not sized the same way. Or at least athletic cleats for soccer are tighter than ordinary street shoes.
So, last spring when Paul was playing soccer, we bought him his first pair of cleats - child's size 10. By the end of the season, we had a hard time getting those shoes on his feet, so when the summer season started, we bought him a new pair of size 11 cleats.
When I was doing school shopping by catalog, I bought him a pair of size 12 tennies - cool ones with an elastic pull string closure that I thought were perfect for him. And when school started, these became the every day shoes.... the only problem was that he never kept them on his feet. No matter how much we fussed and fumed, cajoled or praised the shoes came off in a heartbeat.... chuch, school, car. 30 seconds: at least one shoe was off..... We tightened the elastic - to the point that it wasn't stretchy any more.
And then... I bought another pair of shoes. Size 13. I if the elastic was that stretched out, the shoes must be too small.
His teacher commented the first day that he wore the shoes that she didn't understand what was wrong, but the shoes just kept coming off! I looked, and boy wonder had put the shoes on without holding onto the tongue - the tongue was bunched up at the toe! That should have been my first sign.... And so we corrected the tongue and still, the shoes came off quickly, with very little provocation.
Did I mention that my sweet boy has an odd gate? He runs like a girl who can't run.
Well, this week, something finally clicked.... I was angry about a different issue all together, and the new shoes were mentioned as being a part of the problem (maybe, but perhaps just an excuse from the dear one, but still, they were mentioned) and so I decided that something HAD to be done.
I took the dear boy to a real shoe store, and I measured his feet. Guess what? His shoe size measured at 10 1/2. I just bought him size 13! and I had been putting size 12 on him for this entire year! No wonder the shoes wouldn't stay on his feet, no wonder his gait is bizarre..... he has been compensating for clown shoes, rather than wearing shoes that fit!
I found a pair of size 11 (yes they are a smidge large) canvas tennies and he was able to wear them sans laces and RUN with them. He was able to run out of them only when he running on his tip-toes.... I bought laces. Now the challenge is to teach him to tie his shoes.... and his kindergarten teachers have announced that they don't tie shoes past Christmas - so he is on his own to figure it out..... we will be working hard at it this weekend, I am sure....
So, to all of my mom friends out there, please learn from my mistake - at least once a year, go to a real shoe store, or at least a store that has a foot sizer (or some such device) and get your little one's feet measured! And if your sweet little one somehow manages to walk out of his/her shoes or they come off unintentionally more often than you care to admit, just double check the size..... you might be dealing with some of the same frustration I have had for the last 6 months - completely preventable.
Dinner this week:
sketchy at best....
we (mark and I) were sick.
I managed to cook some chicken on Sunday and we had taco salad one night,
burritoes two nights
ate out two nights and now I have to work the next two days and my DH won't cook unless I tell him exactly what to prepare. It's a good thing that I quit equating cooking with love, because I would be convinced I was unloved if I had to wait for my DH to have dinner ready when I get home!
On a bright note, Sam's had mutant-large oranges, and they are delicious! I am at least eating a little fruit.....
On another bright note, I have somehow managed to run twice in the last 3 days, and 3 times in the last 7 days - I might make it to week 4 before the end of next week! There could be a 5K in my future before pentecost!
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