Special Shoes

L(4) will be a flower girl in my sister's upcoming wedding. While we were in IL there was much talk of the wedding, Livia had a special outing to try on flower girl dresses, and we talked about all the special things that come with being a flower girl. She isn't necessarily excited, but she likes the idea that she has an important "job" to do, "laying down the flowers for Aunt Cara to walk on."

One day while we were in IL, my mom came home from shopping and bore wedding clothes for the boys and "special shoes" for L. Oh, how the special shoes were admired. L would carry them around in their box, but if you wanted to see them, she'd quickly unpack them and don them for a little parade. Big deal shoes. (Now that I think of it, I don't know that L (4) has EVER worn a pair of NEW dress shoes!)

T (23 months) loves shoes. He loves to wear his. He loves to put on anyone else's. He's surprisingly adept at wearing very large shoes. This boy is HAPPY when he is wearing shoes. Well, it pained his little heart that he was not allowed to wear Liv's "'pecial shoes." He cried whenever she carried the box through the room.

Of course, a grandma just can't take this. Good Grandma L brought home special shoes for T on her next trip out. Oh, my goodness. He has been wearing the special shoes everywhere! (They may not look so special by Labor Day weekend's wedding.) He wears them so often (and because of how they are made?) that his little feet stink (all the way back from IL to VA I could smell those stinky little toes in their special shoes behind me!).


Here is just one photo of T in his special shoes, sleeping on the floor in WI. (Yes, he insisted on wearing them to BED- and we were okay with that.) If he woke in the night he would notice if they weren't on and he would pointedly ask for "'pecial shoes?" He loves them.