New shoes

The time comes each year that the vestiges of summer start to disappear. My kids aren’t technically in school yet, (but my daughter will go to kindergarten next year…sob!) so we don’t have a regular back-to-school ritual yet.

Last year we took a photo on her first day of preschool, and I imagine we’ll do the same again this year. K won’t be in the “preschool” classes until next year, but this year he’s doing another ECFE class with me all year.

But for us, so far, the most notable way that we mark the end of summer and transition to fall is a simple task. Buy new athletic shoes for the kids and start the process of getting used to wearing these bulkier shoes rather than the well-worn, smelly sandals that have protected their feet all summer.

I’ve been (sort of) smart so far in regards to M’s footwear. I buy 2 pairs when a local store has buy-one-get-one-FREE, and put them in her closet until the time comes that she needs the next size up. Last time, I bought her a size 13 and 13 ½. (Yes, my daughter is 4 and has skis for feet.) Turns out the 13s were too small, so we had to go exchange that pair for a bigger size. I ended up with a size 1 for the back of her closet. Hmmm. Now that I wrote that, I probably should’ve gotten a 1 ½. Argh.

The 13 ½s fit just lovely, and M was thrilled with the shiny pink accents decorating her new tenny’s. Okay, so she was more thrilled with the little plastic skateboard keychain that came with them.

I tried to get K some shoes on the same deal, but couldn’t find anything in his size. We had the same problem the other day.

So, I looked at Wal-Mart for him. Poor kid, his sister gets the fancy Sketchers, and he gets Wal-Mart shoes. Apparently size 7 is popular for boys in this town. Or, unpopular so they don’t stock it. After searching the tops of the racks for ANY size 7, I finally spotted ONE pair. They were Velcro. They lit-up. They had Spiderman on them. K was sold at first sight.

K has refused to wear his sandals since. And his sandals have Thomas the Train on them. Thomas, overthrown by Spiderman. Who would’ve thought?

And just like that, we’re ready for fall, if it should decide to descend upon us sooner than expected. But I’m not ready to pack the sandals away just yet.


I wrote this in response to a writing prompt from CHBM. Check out other responses at CHBM Writing Collaboration: Episode 7.