Shoes! I got a new pair of shoes...........

Goodbye, baby slippers <3

HELLO, Big Boy shoes!

You couldn't possibly imagine it being difficult to buy your child their first pair of shoes in a big city! When I get the Squatchi shoe-sizer I ordered off of Zulily (ironically the tracking is showing me it will be delivered tomorrow) I'm going to find a corner downtown and size baby feet for spare change. It'll be a total racket! I thought I was silly when I bought it but now I see it's urban-dwelling shoe-sizing gold.

I decided to take Tristan to Macy's for his first pair of shoes - Stride Rite, like mine. How fancy, right? But the old Wannamaker's is actually a really sad place that I don't like to visit without the Christmas organ and dancing lightshow. Macy's in suburban malls might not have their history, but they have a children's shoe department - and ours does not. Zero shoes for children! In fact, their children's section is incredibly spooky and we got out of there quickly. I stopped in several places downtown, even in a large shop with a neon sign as big as its biggest window saying "KIDS!" but no shoe-sizer, and certainly no appropriate shoes.

It seems unless you can afford to visit the upscale boutiques you are left to your own devices.

So here is what I did: I took him to Ross, of course, and I looked at all the shoes. Picked up ones I found acceptable and held them to the bottom of his bat-slippers until I found a match. The hand-me-down clonkers he's been wearing are a size 5 1/2 and these were a 6. He paraded for me when we got home and I am satisfied. They're Merrell - a $50 kid shoe marked down to $20, thankyouverymuchROSS!

I won't even get into the nervous breakdown I nearly had in the clothing departments both there and at Old Navy. He's gone up another size and so I needed a few things, stat, but man...it's rough on the heart when they go up a size. I kept thinking BIG! I may as well get him clothes that are too big, right? No. I got him clothes that will be just right soon enough. But it's hard passing by those sweet little outfits knowing that once upon 17 lbs ago, the baby fashion world was his oyster. Oh, all the sweet little owl things, replaced by rocker big boy threads...

Our last stroll in the clonkers, nicknamed for the sound they make.

Edit: at 10:30 a.m. the very next day, our shoe sizer arrived. He measured in at just under size 6.