All Too Small

This post was written November 20, 2010, and was totally forgotten until now:

These 'size 5' shoesies didn't last very long - - all worn for no more than 2 months' time before she grew out of them - -well, except for the jelly sandals, which she used all summer until mid-November. Those jellies worked great as lil' swim shoes, made by Trumpette Too. Aren't those lil' red ones with the white hearts to die for? Those were her round-the-house slipper shoes, worn inside only for no-shoes-on households like ours. The suede brown and teal pair were her favorites, enough so that I bought her another pair of them in a size 6, which she's wearing now. The darling pink, orange and yellow pair, she called them her 'candy corn' shoes -clever girl, eh? Before she had to stop wearing those, we had paired her 'candy corn' shoes with the outfit she wore the day of Halloween! She had a darling pair of white Keds (not shown), that she wore only a couple weeks, too tight for the top of her foot.

At the beginning of last summer (2009), she wore a size 3 and by July's end, she was into a size 4, wearing a size 5 by mid to late September. It's not that her foot is growing quickly in length though - - Ohhh nooo, we have a different issue when it comes to kids quickly 'growing out' of shoes... If we go by her footsie length, she should be in a size 5, but the top of her foot, due to her tall arch, is SUPER WAY TALL for a baby's footsie --plus she's got kinda meaty, chubby feetsies. Makes it nearly impossible to find her shoes that fit! Stride Rites won't do, nor will any Sketcher. Both Keds and Keens are totally out. I can't even find her something that will fit her from either Target's Circo line or Kohl's Sonoma line. I really have to search to find styles that have a far-forward cut for the top of the shoe with a long, height accommodating ankle strap. So far Pediped and See Kai Run are the only brands I've found that make shoes that will fit my daughter's feet. And even then, sometime the cut doesn't work: Her candy corn shoes were made by See Kai Run, and the leather toe portion was cut too high towards the strap placed across the top of her foot at the ankle, smooshing the top of her foot, so that the top of her foot looked like a lil' pillow = she wore that pair for barely a month! oh, and have I mentioned yet that the majority of shoes made by either Pediped and See Kai Run, they sell for a hefty price? Infant Pedipeds usually run $32 each, with their Flex styles costing $42 or more. See Kai Run sells for $38, $40-ish. Whether we can afford these prices or not, it's ridiculous to spend $40 on a shoe that will be worn for less than 2 months at best, so I scope out eBay for retired, last season pairs that were never worn, still new and sold in the box. Even still, it's hard to find her even those.

K, why am I writing about all this? I may have mentioned this before, but my daughter really LOVES shoes and has since she was teeny tiny, hording the shoes of others, carrying them around, trying to wear everyone's shoes, etc. When it comes to her love of shoes, my honey-man often states he feels like he's living in an episode of Sex & the City. Well, now it's gotten to be a bigger issue with the holiday season here [DISCLAIMER: Mind you, this is allll relative, I know, I know.], unable to find her a basic black pair of mary janes that would fit her feet for Santa pictures and family holiday pictures and everything else black shoes can satisfy as a classic shoe color. In short, we failed - - although I wound up getting a pair of navy, last-season See Kai Runs and polished them with black shoe polish. But that's not the main point of this post anyhow - - I'm writing to share the results of a tried experiment:

At some point we thought we'd found the end all be all of shoes that would fit my daughter's feet no matter the style: Crocs

My honey-man is NOT a Crocs guy, very prejudiced against the brand. Nonetheless, I'd bought her a like-new hot pink pair off of eBay sometime mid-summer and they have fit her perfectly, 'cept we found out they're a nameless knock off, not 'real' Crocs. I thought this wouldn't matter until I bought her a pair of real Crocs in the next size up for her growing feet. IMPORTANT NOTE: Her faux Crocs are truly her most favorite pair of shoes because they fit her feet sooo comfortably.

So I ordered a pair of 6/7 sized Crocs this month, polar fleeced lined for the cooler weather. Remarkably, they did not fit the top of her foot, so they were promptly returned. Out of curiosity, I decided to order the next size up, to see if an 8/9 size would at least fit the top of her foot - - This is what those looked like out of the box = very cute, especially for Crocs! ~

This is how they're 8/9 sizing compared to her lil' footsie

And here they are on her feet = total clodhoppers, total clown-like look on her, plus she had nearly FOUR inches of extra room in the toe!?

Needless to say, they were returned as well. Crocs don't work for her either.