Buying shoes

First, I want to apologize for not having pictures. I took the camera over to my friend Linda's over the weekend to get some pictures of Aaron with her dogs and I left it behind. I also want to apologize because unless you are shopping for shoes for your kid, and even then, this will probably be a boring post for you.

Aaron is gradually getting better on his feet. But he walks with his feet pronated - turned out. His physical therapist wasn't concerned at first, but since he is still doing it, she recommended orthodics. She was going to see if they would be covered by the program we are going through to get physical therapy, but in the meantime, she happened to have a previously-worn pair that fit Aaron perfectly. She said the orthodics typically run $52, so if they weren't covered, I'd have waited a little while longer to see if the pronation cleared up on it's own.

She said the soft leather Robeez shoes we had for him weren't good shoes to use the orthodics in. But I pulled out a pair of Pedipeds Aaron had gotten for his birthday and realized they now fit him and the orthodics fit inside perfectly. So I tried that out over the weekend and Jan (the PT) watched him in them on Tuesday when she was here. Although the Pedipeds are firmer than the Robeez, it was still too easy for him to roll onto his arches, so she recommended getting a more "traditional" type of shoe. Some little tennis shoes or something.

It's kind of confusing to me since Robeez and Pedipeds both sell themselves on being perfect for little ones learning to walk. The soft soles make it easier for them to still use their toes for balance. But I guess for kids with pronated feet who need orthodics, they aren't so great. So yesterday, I set out to buy a pair of shoes for Aaron. Since he had received the Robeez and the Pedipeds as gifts, and since I don't see any point in putting shoes on him until he can walk, I haven't had to buy a pair of shoes for him yet.

While running errands yesterday, we happened to be at a shopping center with a Ross, Shoe Pavilion and a Mervyn's. I tried Ross first. I don't want to spend a lot on shoes Aaron will wear for a few months. Ross had a sizing chart attached to the floor and it looked like Aaron was a size 5. There was a cute pair of little oxford style brown shoes that I liked, but not in size 5. All I could get in size 5 was either Cars themed or Spiderman themed. If Aaron is like his cousins, he will be asking me for shoes like that soon enough. But I hate character themed shoes so I didn't want to get them. Even for $13. They also seemed bulky and large for his little feet.

Next was Shoe Pavillion. They were going out of business and seemed to have already sold most of their toddler boy shoes. Mervyn's was next. They did have a few styles that weren't character themed, but not much selection in size 5. And most of the shoes were in the $32-45 range - which just seems like a lot of money for infant shoes.

So after his nap, I took Aaron to the mall. I was going to check out Stride Rite where I figured I could get his feet more accurately sized. But as soon as I stepped into the mall, I saw Payless, and figured they'd have good prices. When I went in, the saleswoman offered to size his feet. She said he was a 3 1/2, but since they don't have half sizes that small, we'd have to go with a 4. I thought that sounded kind of small. Sizes 1-4 were grouped together. There were two size 4 boy shoes. I didn't like either one. I think one had laces. I don't want to deal with laces on a one year old. So off we went to Stride Rite.

There, the saleswoman was kind enough to get off her personal phone call to help us. She sized his feet and said he was a 5 1/2! I kind of trusted her more than the Payless woman, though. There was one style of shoe that was on sale for $35 - a little more expensive than I was hoping to pay, but I didn't rule it out. It had a Velcro closure and no licensed character. However, she didn't have any of the 3 colors in his size. I started looking at some of the other shoes. However, when I looked at the shoes in the first columns, she said "Oh, those are just for crawlers." Seriously? They make shoes for crawlers? I mean, I know people who put shoes on their kids who can't walk yet, but I didn't realize they made special shoes for them.

I noticed that most of the shoes I was picking up were $45 or $47, so I finally just asked her point blank if she had any other shoes that were under $40. Nope. I'm sure I will pay more for Aaron's shoes when he is older, as I do think well built shoes are important for kids (and adults), but I myself rarely buy shoes more than $40, so I wasn't ready to pay that much for Aaron's. The saleswoman had offered to order the on-sale ones, but since I couldn't try a pair on Aaron, I said I'd think about it. In the meantime, Aaron had crawled over to the toys and was quite happy.

Next, we tried Sears. For some reason, shoe departments don't leave out the shoe sizers any more and I wanted to try to see for myself what size Aaron really is. I had to ask someone and he retrieved one from behind the counter and measured for himself. He said Aaron was a 4 1/2, but 5 would be the closest they had. Sears had a decent selection, but not in size 5.

At this point, though, despite the different sizes I had been given, I felt pretty comfortable with the size 5 verdict. That is what I thought he was after our visit to Ross. So I went back to Payless and looked at the size 5 section. There was much more inventory than for sizes 1-4. I found a simple pair of Champion white (leather) tennis shoes with black decoration and Velcro closures. For $20.