Baby needs new shoes, redux

[celticdragonfly]

Earlier this evening the kids and I met up with selenite at the Hulen Mall to do more shoe shopping. I was a bit tense, as I'd had an idiot almost sideswipe me on the highway - got off at my exit, and I pulled aside to follow him and go give him a piece of my mind, but lost him. GRRRR.


Anyway, we went in to the StrideRite that's now at Hulen, an improvement over having to go all the way out towards Grapevine. I'd talked to them on the phone earlier after checking the website for shoes. Maggie's old shoes are up on the site, these: --->

Apparently the store doesn't get those anymore, but she said they have something similar. The new ones ARE very similar indeed, almost the same, and that's what we got for Jamie, in I believe a 7 1/2 wide.



Maggie is now wearing size 8M. Hers were tricker, and required some compromise. The first shoes under consideration were these hot pink floral ones, that light up. The light up part was fine, the velcro boots was fine... but there has to be *some* compromise between her enjoying pink and my residual feminist desire to avoid gender stereotypes. Mama's self-respect does need to be considered.

So, I decided against these ----->



So then we found these. A beige that Mama can handle, makes a better 'set' with Jamie's anyway, but has cute pink flowers and butterflies, and still lights up. The lighting up part enchanted her once she figured it out. Laces instead of velcro is a bit of a pain, since she's been putting velcro shoes on all by herself, but I decided it was a price I could pay.

Then while checking out selenite spotted that they had child-sized spiral elastic "laces", the ones you put in and don't have to tie. So we got a pair of those for her, in pink. Overall a good set of compromises, I think.

We went off to Chickfila for some dinner and playtime. Unfortunately, while in the play area taking off her shoes, Maggie pulled the pink elastic laces totally out. So we have some explaining to do to convince her NOT to do that again. But I think it will work out. I will try to get pics of them sometime soon. (Maggie Sr., we need to get you logged back in - I lock some of their pictures, so you might miss some)

By the time we got home, I totted it up and realized that between the morning running around and the evening running around, I'd spent 8 hours on the road and muchly in the car. And my body was informing me that for someone having a coccygectomy in less than a week, this was a Bad Idea. So when we got home I shamelessly stuck selenite with taking care of the kids, and went upstairs to lie down for a while. I did get some enthusiastic kid-cuddling when they came upstairs to be put to bed, though. They are such sweet loving kids, and things with them have been going awfully well lately. I love them, and I feel very loved by them.

Comments

[soldiergrrrl.livejournal.com]

I find the whole pink thing to be funny.

When I was a little girl, until about the age of...six or so...I loved pink. Pink was the thing for me.

I got molested, and I wound up hating pink. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. I hated it until about...two years ago.

Now, I adore pink. My mom says I have a pink problem, and I do. I have pink everything, from shirts to shoes, from sheets to pajamas.

For me, it was a symbol of liking who I was again, and my pink obsession just kind of grew out of that.

So, I completely empathize with Maggie. Pink boots! I wish they made them in my size!

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Maggie loves pink - it's not that I offer it to her, it's that she seeks it out. And I try to let her enjoy it - she has lots of pink t-shirts, always asks for and gets the pink plate, etc. It's just... those were too much!

Besides, with brown I feel confident telling her "go out and play!" and not thinking "oh man, the dirt will ruin them!" And I want to encourage her to go play. Grandma arrives next week and is full of plans to take her to the park and such.

I want to walk the line of letting her have feminine stuff while avoiding the stuff that serves as hobbles for little girls. If I end up with a pink-loving confident tomboy who believes she can do anything I will have succeeded wildly.

[soldiergrrrl.livejournal.com]

Heh. It worked for my mom. :-)

There's no way I'd be caught dead in brown boots...er...other than the ones I'm wearing mind you but I do get the dirt thing. ;-)

After this year, though, I'm not wearing *anything* brown or khaki for at least six months.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Pink boots! I wish they made them in my size!

Oh, wow - go toss "pink boots" into Froogle and set it for women's boots. There's LOTS out there. Dunno if you can get the lightup ones in adult sizes, though.

[soldiergrrrl.livejournal.com]

I can't get to Froogle on this network. :-( I shall have to go look on my day off!

:-D

[bibliotrope.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen any light-up ones in adult sizes. I'd want them in blue, though.

[archangelbeth]

The minx loves all colors -- we have a pair of pink bootlets which look almost identical to the ones in the picture, only with a smaller set of LEDs. We also have two, count them two, identical pairs of sneaker-like shoes with light-up baseballs in the tongues. (Grampa likes baseball, and apparently so does she to some extent.)

She does have a fondness for t-shirts with shiny designs on them and phrases like "Princess" or "Beautiful," though.

Kids and tastes

[the-blue-fenix.livejournal.com]

Maggie is now wearing size 8M. Hers were tricker, and required some compromise. The first shoes under consideration were these hot pink floral ones, that light up. The light up part was fine, the velcro boots was fine... but there has to be *some* compromise between her enjoying pink and my residual feminist desire to avoid gender stereotypes. Mama's self-respect does need to be considered.

Kids have their own personalities and preferences from day one. I think it's important to keep that in mind.

[filkferengi]

Good for you for getting the shoes thing solved pre-surgery; it'll be one less thing for you to worry about.

Yay for spouses [& kids] who let you get some much-needed [and well-earned] rest.