A Mommy Story

Forget eating us out of house and home – I think Cordelia will be walking and running us out of house and home. I’ve ranted on this before, but after shoe shopping again today, I can’t help but want to scream about the money we have to spend on shoes.

Her current pair of sneakers have been showing the usual signs of being too small for a week or two now. Which meant it was time for me to determine if her feet had yet changed into normal feet that could wear your average, everyday shoe.

See, Cordy’s feet have always been a little different. She has wide feet, which I’m told is common for a baby or toddler, but she also has tall feet. The middle of her foot, between her toes and her ankle, has always had more height to it. A little extra fat pad, I guess.

Because of this, stopping by Target for a pair of shoes just won’t work. Oh no, no matter how cute those little Mary Janes are, I can guarantee Cordy’s foot won’t get halfway into the shoe. A $10 pair of no-name canvas shoes would be wonderful, but Cordy’s feet will not comply.

I tried Land’s End this time, hoping that their shoes, which run a little wide in adult sizes, would also work the same way for their children’s shoes. Their all-weather mocs are my #1 favorite shoe, so I ordered a pair for Cordy. As a bonus, they come in a lot of cool colors, like deep blue, purple, and red.

I had a lot of hope for these shoes, but like others that came before them, they failed the test. Her tall feet wouldn’t go more than halfway in, no matter how much pushing, tugging, and twisting I tried (gently, of course). Damn.

Having tried just about every shoe, I was forced to go back to my only choice: Stride Rite.

I’d like to say I’m grateful to Stride Rite for being the one shoe store that carries shoes to fit my toddler’s abnormal feet, but I’m not grateful. They’re expensive shoes, for one. I don’t spend $50 on shoes for myself – I don’t even spend $30 on shoes for myself, and the shoes I do buy for $27 (Land’s End) I wear for several years, going from good shoes, to play shoes, to shoes to wear in the mud, until they finally give up and collapse into a heap of dust. If I’m lucky, the shoes cost me $1 a month or less for the use I get from them.

Yet for my precious little girl, I have to spend $50 on special shoes to fit her feet that will last her for maybe 3 months, possibly 5. That’s, at best, $10 a month for the use she gets from them.

Next, while they do carry extra wide widths, not all of their shoes are available in this width. Which leaves a limited selection, and for girls, seems to always be limited to the colors of white and light pink. Ugh. What is so wrong with making shoes for little girls in some color other than pink? Purple is a perfectly valid color, as is green or even red.

Today, Cordy measured in at a 7.5 extra wide. So we had these selections to pick from:

The last ones didn’t interest me due to the cute hearts. And the second ones, while being wide, were unable to handle the height of Cordy’s feet, making it look more like a sausage casing than a shoe. So choice #1 it was – not much of a choice, though.

With the new shoes on her feet, and Cordy doing laps around the tables filled with shoes she can’t wear, I paid the $48.70 and we left the store, determined to not return for at least 3 months.

I sometimes think the only reason I work my job is to pay for Cordy’s clothing and shoes. I will probably be relieved if baby #2 is a girl, so she can wear all of Cordy’s old clothing. And hopefully the second one won’t have weird feet.

You want to know why I have blog ads on the site now? It’s to help me afford to keep this kid in shoes.