Ian's First Pair of Shoes
It was with trepidation that I accompanied Marysia and Ian to Twinkle Toes to have him fitted for his first pair of shoes.
Shoes are, like many things in life, both a step forwards and a step backwards (step – hah!). They allow you to walk over rough pavement and stickers, but they confine your toes uncomfortably and make them sweat. Plus, you often have to go to a mall (shudder) to purchase them.
There’s no avoiding shoes, of course, and so on 18 Steptember, the week before Ian's first birthday, we struck out for University Mall to find him some shoes. And, at first, we failed. Sears had no salesperson to help us figure out Ian's shoe size. Parisian's had a crummy selection. We abandoned the mall and drove to a speciality store for children's shoes, Twinkle Toes.
There the owner, Lisa, personally fitted Ian for a pair of Stride Rites.
Naturally, I had to capture the experience on video. If you have the QuickTime player loaded on your computer, you can play a 6-minute excerpt from it by clicking this link:
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Jeremy/FirstShoes.htm
Our choices, essentially, were white or white. After determining Ian's foot size, the main determining factor became:
Could we get the damn things on his feet?
Twinkle Toes and Stride Rite, one of the oldest children's shoe companies, provided just what we needed. Plus, despite the misspelling, you've got to love that name: Stride Rite!
Ian took to his new shoes pretty quickly, although there was definitely a period of adjustment during which he walked like Frankenstein's monster. But now, just 11 days later, he's walking as if he'd worn shoes all his life!
Shoes are, like many things in life, both a step forwards and a step backwards (step – hah!). They allow you to walk over rough pavement and stickers, but they confine your toes uncomfortably and make them sweat. Plus, you often have to go to a mall (shudder) to purchase them.
There’s no avoiding shoes, of course, and so on 18 Steptember, the week before Ian's first birthday, we struck out for University Mall to find him some shoes. And, at first, we failed. Sears had no salesperson to help us figure out Ian's shoe size. Parisian's had a crummy selection. We abandoned the mall and drove to a speciality store for children's shoes, Twinkle Toes.
There the owner, Lisa, personally fitted Ian for a pair of Stride Rites.
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Jeremy/FirstShoes.htm
Our choices, essentially, were white or white. After determining Ian's foot size, the main determining factor became:
Could we get the damn things on his feet?
Twinkle Toes and Stride Rite, one of the oldest children's shoe companies, provided just what we needed. Plus, despite the misspelling, you've got to love that name: Stride Rite!
Ian took to his new shoes pretty quickly, although there was definitely a period of adjustment during which he walked like Frankenstein's monster. But now, just 11 days later, he's walking as if he'd worn shoes all his life!