Sam is a walking, cruising, stumbling wonder now. At 13 months, he has been perfecting his walking for the last 3 weeks and is doing so well. Until now we have resisted all forms of footwear other than socks, mainly because Sam prefers to be barefoot. Nothing wrong with that now, is there. But, as he is getting more mobile and as the temperature has dropped, I’ve come to the realisation that shoes must be bought.
Generous Auntie Julie offered to buy Sam’s first shoes for one of his Christmas presents so yesterday we went to Clarks to have Sam’s feet measured and see what was available to us. Little did we know, this task would not be easy or pleasant.
Once we had waited for our number to be called (blisfully, we were the only customers left at this point), we chatted to the sales person and informed her that Sam’s feet needed to be measured for his first pair of shoes. Mark sat on one of the stools with Sam and the measuring commenced. This is where is all started to go a bit wrong.
Bless him, Sam is a bit wary of strangers. Especially when they decide to grab his feet and force him to do something that he doesn’t want to do. After a bit of staring and chin wobbling, the tears began to roll and the cries began to ramp up. Measuring done, we thought Sam might calm down, but no. It was time to scream the roof down when the shoes came out. Mind you, Sam had never had anything put on his feet other than socks, so this offensive THING that was being forced onto his foot was more than he could take. You’d have thought we were giving him is 1 Year jabs for all of the fuss he kicked up! Have a look…
Once the torturous shoes were on his feet, we placed him on the ground to see if he could manage to walk. Well, bless him, it was like the shoes were made of concrete! Sam could barely pick up his feet. He was crying and trying to move his feet but it was like he was stuck in quicksand. The horror had to come to an end! Mark swept him up and we took off the shoes while Sam continued to cry on Daddy’s shoulder. In the end, we bought the shoes, as he needs to have them and also scooped up a pair of soled slippers to try to get him used to the idea of wearing something on his feet. What a palavar! Who knew it would be such a horrendous experience getting Sam’s first pair of shoes! Of course being the wonderful mother that I am, I will be saving these photos for posterity and will bring them out probably at his wedding!
