New Shoes

I took the kids to get new shoes today. They've both been wearing Crocs all summer and I thought Clara could use some tennis shoes, and was hoping to find some cowboy boots for Jonathan to take the place of the rain boots. I wasn't so successful with Jonathan's boots, thanks to his 'extra wide' feet, but we found the perfect shoes for Clara.

Clara decided that now that she knows how to tie, she needed tie shoes. I was skeptical, knowing that her ability to tie was still a little on the hit or miss side. We found some that she liked and I told her to put them on and tie them, because if she couldn't tie them in the store we weren't going to get them. I didn't care if it took her 5 minutes to do it, I just wanted to know she really could tie a real shoe, not just a lacing card with extra long laces. Much to my surprise, she tied it right -- the first time, and it didn't take 5 min. either. So then we began to explore all the options of shoes she could pick from, which prompted us to have her foot measured, to be sure we were looking for the correct size. The second big shocker of the day...Clara's feet have grown a size and a half just over the summer. That's right! She was in a 9 at the beginning of the summer and she is now in a 10.5!!! The down side to that is she had 6 pairs of brand new Stride Rite shoes in her closet just waiting for her to grow into, sizes 9.5 and 10. I buy ahead when I catch good deals at the Stride Rite outlet or at Marshalls/Ross. I hadn't paid more than $15 for any of them -- but we still can't use them regardless, so I passed them off regretfully to a neighbor :( The boots that I gave away were super cute too. That'll teach me to buy ahead!

Here's Clara tying her new shoes.

When I was making dinner today she just sat in her chair tying and untying her shoes to practice -- all on her own. She's so excited and has even told me she's going to teach all her friends that don't know how to tie...so they can get new shoes too! (I did have to explain to her that last part was up to their parents though.)

She got pretty good and even fast with all her practice. This girl amazes me every day.

The proud princess with her new shoes!