Shoe shopping

I'm not a huge fan of shoe shopping in general.  I always have a difficult time finding shoes I really like (at a reasonable price).  I love pointy toe, kitten heel dress shoes, but I have trouble finding ones that are comfortable.  Hence, I haven't bought shoes for a couple of years (other than flip flops).  (When I lived in PA, I loved wearing heels and also did so in college - but I lived in flip flops during law school and, well, nothing else is very comfortable....)

Anyway, my dislike of shoe shopping is compounded when they shoe shopping is (supposed) to result in shoes for toddlers.  My top reasons for hating shoe shopping for Brooke:

4) Her feet grow fast.  Like, faster than my hair fast.  We buy shoes every 3 months at the longest - it's only been 6 weeks since I bought them last and

3) She doesn't like to sit still to try them on. No, she puts one on and runs away, pulling shoes off the shelves.
   When I try to convince her to come back, she yells, "I got you!"  I know she's playing, so I don't like to yell at her - but I tell her, calmly, to come here, and she does (She's a good girl, even if it's frustrating at the time).  We go through this every pair of shoes.

2) She has chubby feet.  Yes, this is what makes them irresistably, I-can't-kiss-them-enough cute.  But translating into shoe sizes?  It means she needs wide width.  Not many companies make wide width shoes for kids who aren't even 2 yet - and this makes for expensive shoe-shopping trips every time.  Oh, and one foot is a 1/2 size bigger than the other (I know this is normal - but so frustrating to fit her properly).

1) She is very opinionated - and she loves crazy colors/prints.  Normally, I would love this - I am so proud that my daughter knows what she wants and I love that she picks her own clothes, etc.  But with shoes?  I want to find neutral-ish shoes she can wear with anything at a reasonable price that fit her well - maybe one pair of sneakers and one pair of sandals.  Nope, our shoe shopping trip on Sunday resulted in her getting four - yes, 4 - pairs of shoes that will fit her for roughly 2-3 months.

So, some stories from our last shoe-shopping adventure (which was the first without Daddy, because sometimes he has to miss things like this for work).

We go to Ideal Baby & Kids because they're having a great shoe sale.  (Keep in mind, we just bought new shoes on Valentine's Day).  Brooke finds a pair of Sketchers she loves (with Elmo and pink flowers on them) - they don't come in wide width.  We try them on anyway, Brooke says, "Too tight!" and refuses to try anything else on because she doesn't like anything except the Elmo shoes.  Tantrum #1.

So the next day, I take her to Stride Rite - great shoes, but pricey and a limited selection (at least of shoes that can be worn with anything).  They carry wide (and sometimes extra wide) there - she continues to pick out the craziest, brightest colors and patterns.  I convince her to try on a pair of gray and coral sneakers - success! She loves them!  Sneakers down - and they cost me roughly $50, so we'll look somewhere else for sandals/beach shoes.

We make a stop in Payless.  Brooke becomes attached to white Airwalks that look like Crocs that have purple and pink printed all over them.  They don't fit right. (Tantrum #2)  She picks out sandals that light up - they don't fit.  (Tantrum #3)

I pick up a pair of white sandals.  They fit great, she says she doesn't like them.  She gets them anyway (sometimes being Mommy does have its perks).

She needs shoes to wear with her Cinderella dress.  First she wants white "heels" - she's not even 2, I'm not even trying them on her.  Then she picks sparkly pink ballet slippers - cute, but $20, and look more Aurora than Cinderella.  She wears them around the store while we continue browsing - cries when I take them off (Tantrum #4).  I decide she can wear the white sandals with the Cinderella dress, but I do convince her to get a pair of pink canvas (aka non-sparkly) ballet slippers that can be worn more frequently.

Last pair?  She gets to pick whatever she wants - she picks Airwalks that are shiny silver with purple, teal, and pink printed on them, and they light up when she walks.  (BTW, something I would have totally picked in my young days, LOL).

Total time spent to buy 4 pairs of shoes?  Going on 3 hours.  Number of full-out tantrums? 4.  This girl exhausts me ;-)