Feet

Today was all about Trevor's feet. He needed football cleats for his camp this week. I read somewhere that letting your children go barefoot was good for their development. Their feet would develop naturally and not suffer from pains of conformity to poorly fit shoes. I kept their shoes to a minimum growing up. Trevor still runs barefoot regularly. Both boys have widely spaced toes as a result of that freedom.



We stopped at the outlet store to try on Adidas. We picked out a pair of cleats and Trevor takes his shoes off. No socks, we are going shoe shopping and he didn't put socks on today. I ask if they have football socks, but they only have regular crew socks. I have to buy a six pack so I don't feel badly about Trevor trying on shoes with stinky feet. The large size sock is a 6to 12 size. Trevor can barely get the socks on due to his sweaty feet.



Trevor wants a 13 size but it left over an inch of room in the front. I made him squeeze into a 12. The length was good, but the sides of the cleats looked ready to split the seams. I asked the clerk if they had wider sizes. They did not. I told the boys we would try the Nike store. The clerk said Nike would be even narrower. I had thought that they might be, that was why I tried Adidas first. All those skinny light track runners have small light feet. The clerk suggested I check out Dicks sporting goods. It used to be GI Joes in the day. They tend to have a wider selection, figuratively and literally.



I was on the way to see my mother in law for lunch with the boys. There was a Dicks in the area, I was told. We had to have lunch first. The boys can only take so much shopping before they need sustinance. When we got to GI Joes we found the place out of business, but a Big Five was in the next mall. They had Nike and Adidas brands, but they also had other brands. I ask which is the widest that you have. I was told I was a little early in the season but Eastern was a brand that tended to be a bit wider and was in stock.



The twelve was a perfect fit. It probably wont last the season since Trevor will have a growth spurt in the next 6 months, probably before summer is out, which will put him out of the 12 perfect fit. But at least now I have a wide sized brand to turn to for the next size without having to try every shoe in the store, and every store in the area. I had no idea the shoes he had on today were Eastern to begin with. No wonder they fit.



Now all we have to do is get him the pants since the Junior league did have his adult size. I am hopeful they might have something at the camp since it is at the high school being taught by the high school coach and some of the team players. I used to laugh internally at moms discussing the difficulty of getting shoes and clothing for their children once they reach that certain size. Shopping was so easy for me. Now I understand. There is that day when your children reach a size that is not carried at the local Fred Meyer or Walmart. You have to go searching. There are no deals any more. It is work dragging your child around to various stores unsuccessfully.



I told my boys I was supposed to have girls. We would be doing ballet and dance instead of football. They would like shopping. How I ended up with boys I don't know. I read all the books on how to procreate girls, and still I have boys. In a weak moment, Tom even gave me the opportunity to have another child and I turned him down afraid I would have another boy. I told him if he would guarantee a girl I would do it, but he told me he would make no guarantees. So I have my boys. They are noisy and smelly and messy, but I wouldn't trade them for anything, even if I do have to start shopping at the Big and Tall stores for men, dragging them along with me.



Tom will soon have to stand on the stairs when he gets mad at the boys so he can look down on them from above. Or he catches them sitting, while he stands above them. Tom knows all the tricks of intimidation, and looks forward to using them as needed on his teen age sons. I told my boys to marry orphans so I can get my daughter without any in law sharing.



The key though in the meantime to shopping with boys is bribery. We had Carmel apples at a chocolate store between shoes stores. I figured that the apple part was half healthy. At another store we bought somewhat unnecessary under armour tops. Anything to keep those boys engaged and happy long enough to achieve my errand of finding Trevor cleats that fit. By the time the day was over the boys were exhausted and done shopping and my wallet was much lighter. We achieved our goal though, so I count it as a successful day.