Shoe Shopping Is My Nemesis

I love shoes.  I love shoe shopping.  I even have a whole category about shoes on my blog.

There is one caveat.  Shoe shopping for my four year old.  Michael has enormous feet.  I take that back.  Michael had ginormous feet.  When he was born the doctor said two thing, it's a boy, and he has a golden retriever feet.  You know how golden retriever puppies have these huge feet that they grow into?  That was Michael as a baby, all hands and feet. 

Not only does he have huge feet, they are, extra, EXTRA WIDE.  We have to go to a children's specialty shoe store to find him shoes.  It takes, I kid you not, hours, to find shoes that fit him.  I can't walk into Payless or Target, or even Stride Rite, and get this kid shoes.  They don't carry shoes wide enough, or they just don't fit him, or something.

There is ONE kids specialty shoe store in the Washington DC area.  People drive from Virginia and DC into Maryland to go there.  I went there as a kid.  The owner remembers me.  I have avoided it for the past two weeks because I figured it would be a madhouse the two weeks before school started, but I knew Michael desperately needed new sneakers.  I went the first day of school after preschool let out.  My mom decided to be a trooper and come along for the torture.

You want to open a new business in DC?  How about a new kid's specialty shoe store.  Because we desperately need one.  Especially one that can actually fit kids and carries extra, extra wide shoes.  And, if they could fit special need needs kids and fit kids orthodontics, you could be a millionaire.

2:00.  Public school was not out yet.  It had, I kid you not, a 3 HOUR WAIT.  For children's shoes.  We left.  We tried Nordstrom.  The first guy who fit Michael told me he was an 11.  I was like, he is not an 11, he is wearing an 11 EXTRA WIDE RIGHT NOW.  What did his feet shrink?  He looked at me, he fit him again, "nope, ma'am he's an 11."  I asked for the manager.

The manager fit him.  "He is a 12 extra wide.  We don't carry extra wide kids shoes.  Sorry.  But he can't wear these sneakers much longer."

Good stuff.

On Tuesday I left work, and called the shoe store.  2 hour wait.  Well, I guess that's better than 3.

I took Michael to the playground and called about an hour later.  The wait was down to 45 minutes.  We drove like a bat out of hell and only ended up waiting about 15 minutes.  Michael is yes, a 12 extra wide.  It took about 30 minutes to find sneakers that were wide enough, even in an extra wide.  He tried on a light up pair and recovered better than I thought he would when they didn't fit.  (Hint to the shoe guy: Don't show the 4 year old with hard to fit feet light up sneakers.  They cry when they don't fit.)  But, I told him that the pair we bought make him run faster and jump higher and every morning he races me to school to show me how fast he can run.

The Great Shoe Debacle isn't over yet.  The may not make boots wide enough.  He may be playing in the snow in sneakers.  Stay tuned!

And yes, I know I can order from Zappos.  The issue is that an extra wide shoe is simply not wide enough.  The shoe does not exist.

One time I took Michael shoe shopping and after being in the store for three owners Ed, the owner of the store walked over to me and said, "I don't think I have a pair of shoes that will fit this child."  I cried.  Good times.

This is why I no longer ask how much the shoes are when they fit him.  I don't care.  Thank g-d for my mom who picks up the tab.  Because I have a feeling the choice will soon be college or shoes for this child.

Adapted for DC Metro Moms from Jodi's personal blog jodifur.  Jodi writes, a lot, about being a wife, mother, attorney, and everything in between.  You can also follow Jodi on twitter.