She loves them!

Already! Phoebe Loves Shoes! Well, not always on her feet, but she does love playing with shoes; the Mister's shoes, my shoes, her shoes, she loves them.

Last week Phoebe got fairly steady on her feet and I decided we needed to go get her some of her own shoes - some white sandals to go with everything- mostly to protect her sweet little feet from the concrete. This turned into a two day event.

The first day we went to a store in DuPont that I thought would have toddler shoes but it turns out they don't carry them anymore. The sales lady was a wealth of knowledge regarding shoes for walkers. After that conversation I realized we are dealing with very impressionable little feet that NEED the 'right' shoes. It was getting close to lunch time so we ended our shopping outing with no shoes.

The next day we trekked out to the 'burbs to a store with the 'right' shoes. This very nice lady greeted Phoebe, the way she was trained to (I am sure), and spent a good bit of time interacting with her to put P at ease. I thought this was good, and I was hopeful that this would be a good experience. We quickly learned that Phoebe is a 3.5 and would probably need a 'W' (wide). The sales lady went to the back and brought out one pair of sandals - I guess it was the only one wide enough? But, for Phoebe's little chunky monkey feet these were not wide enough. The sales lady went in search of the XW (extra wide) sandals. They were all sold out.

We tried a few other scenarios; size 4 W (way too big...which matters a lot when you are first walking), size 3.5 W in a few other shoes (still not wide enough), size 4 XW in a few shoes that run a little small. Nothing worked. And this lady that seemed to be so great with Phoebe didn't really have the communication skills to help me understand why this was becoming such a difficult experience. (Why aren't there any more option in 3.5 XW? What other options do we have? Can I just order them somewhere? Do they only make a few pairs of these assuming no children can walk with such short, fat feet?) At this point I figured I would just go home and order them on-line.


Ha. The Internet laughed in my face! Turns out 3.5 XW is all sold out....everywhere...there isn't even anything on ebay.

What I have gleaned from the Internet is that most toddler walking shoes are size 4 and up. (walking shoes: they have a rubber sole, provide arch support and help develop the arch, lightweight, etc. - distinctly not the soft soled robeez that we have) Another lesson learned is that if you have a child with short, chubby (so cute!) feet, you have to buy the shoes before they are all sold out! How are sandals all sold out by mid (ok almost the end of) June? And all the other stores that sell cute baby shoes are made for babes with skinny feet, so there really aren't many other options until her feet grow, which apparently happens really fast at this age.

Now, we have gone to plan B...well it was plan A but then the first sales lady spilled her fountain of knowledge on me regarding shoes and I changed my shoe priorities...and I ordered our little lady her first pair of crocs. They should be here this week. Again, I think sizing will be an issue...they come in size 3 or size 4-5. I am not sure that either will fit, but they come in a very nice shade of cotton candy. What little girl doesn't want shoes in that color?