Shoes

This little boy of mine is a character. 

When we decided to introduce him to shoes--about the time he started walking--he hated them. I have a video of him walking and wailing around the apartment until he sat down and kicked off his shoes. I'd put them on, he'd kick them off. 

So we let it go for awhile. No point dying on that mountain. 

Then we instituted "put your shoes on before you go outside". Raeford loves being outside. He's my granola child. Any kind of cranky can be solved with outside time. He uses the sign for outside and will frequently go to the door and ask to go outside. If someone goes outside without him, it usually provokes a minor meltdown. I leave him in the car when I put away groceries because he would rather be in his carseat than inside the house while I make my several trips. 

We have a 'shoe caddy' in our living room that houses shoes, scriptures, library books, and mail. If Rae is looking for something to do, he'll grab a pair of shoes and try to put them on. He loves my shoes, which tend to be slip ons. I've also been impressed to see him put on flip flops--with his big toe separated by the thong--and Mr. Graff's five finger shoes. Those are harder, though. 

All of our pictures of Rae putting on big people shoes are with Mr. Graff's shoes. 

He likes figuring out the laces, tying and untying and knotting them. 

Mostly, he likes trying to walk around in shoes.  

This teaches me an important lesson about parenting. It's all a phase. Behavior is not permanent, even if obnoxious. So watch, wait, and try again with something different, eventually it will change.