New Kicks

We've long had issues getting Tyler's feet in the various shoes we've tried on over the last six or so months. I essentially gave up and decided he was good to go if he left the house with socks on his feet.

We recently found a pair of inexpensive tennis shoes at Target that have worked well, but I really wanted Ty to have a good pair of Stride Rite shoes once he started walking. I've been a fan of Stride Rite shoes since my mother took me there for my own kicks as a child. And, I've heard lots of good things from other mothers, as well as pediatricians, about the superiority of the company's shoes.

Perhaps I'm a Stride Rite snob.

So, today, we were at North Star Mall with my friend Jamala and her son Kai (Ty's BFF...you've seen them together here and here). I needed to get Tyler a few springy/summery clothing items since we're approaching hot, hot, hot weather here in Texas. But, I also needed to see about some shoes for the boy, so we wrapped up our mall extravaganza in the, you guessed it, Stride Rite store.

Since I had never had his feet measured officially, we started with that. I suppose we do things bigger in the Watson family...I nearly fell down when the man said, "He needs a five, extra wide."

Extra wide!!!

I knew that was a chubby foot. No wonder we've had such a hard time buying shoes for the poor child.

So, twenty minutes later, Tyler became the proud owner of some basic, size 5XW tennis shoes that the man assured me would last him for three months.

Ahhh, Mr. Salesman, I hate to be ugly, but for the price of the shoes in your store, they better dang well last longer than three months.

And, they better clean up well, what with all that white leather.