THE BINDING OF LITTLE FEET

I figure, if it's good enough for the Chinese - it's probably good enough for me.

Today after we played at Sir Bouncealots with Tiff, Grandma Judie & the boys, we made a quick trip through the hail over to the Stride Rite outlet to get all the boys some new shoes. Ethan has put up a fight on multiple occassions when I've gone to put any of his shoes on him. He often cries & says "No, too tight", which you'd think would've been enough to get me to the shoe store earlier - but no. Scot made a comment the other day that Ethan was walking a little funny and asked me if I thought one of his legs was shorter than the other...UMMMM, the obvious answer was NO, but nice try Scot. ( : I had the salesperson measure Ethan's feet, as I always do, to make sure that I would be able to get him the right size. Turns out my poor son needed shoes an entire size and a half larger than the ones he was wearing. Granted, they tell you to buy them a half size bigger than their foot so that they have some room to grow but A SIZE AND A HALF? Yikes! Talk about the overwhelming feeling of guilt I suffered when I found out. I've practically been torturing my child & he's only complained on occassion that his shoes felt "too tight".

The true joy of the comfortable shoes was apparent on Ethan's face when he strutted around the store test driving a new pair of summer sandles & some new running shoes. He loved the sandles, but the moment those running shoes were tied -he ran off to admire himself in the full length mirror. He wore them out of the store & shared his joy with everyone. (The above photo is of him talking to Aunt Sarah while admiring his comfortable new shoes). Clearly he appreciates the little things in life - like being able to feel his toes. I've got a lot to learn from him. ( :