Shoe shopping and other hazards
I took the children shoe shopping today, which was a study in contrasts between the girl child and the boy child, and an exercise in frustration for the latter and myself.
The boy child, in addition to having AS and all sorts of sensory issues, also has weirdly shaped feet. They're really wide at the ball/toe area and really narrow at the heel with a high arch. DH's feet are exactly the same way, which I guess is another thing I can blame him for, haha. So not only is the boy bothered by the toe seams in his socks, the way the tongue is stitched into the shoe, the way the laces cross the tongue, etc. but there are essentially no shoes that are shaped the way his feet are shaped. So it was a fun day, as you can imagine.
First we went to Target, where the kids got new pajamas, socks and underwear and we also looked at shoes. The girl child found a pink pair in her size, tried them on, loved them and was done with the whole shoe-shopping thing in like 10 seconds.
The boy child tried on three or four pairs. They were all uncomfortable.
So then we went to the mall, to my old standby for kids' shoes: Payless. Nearly all of my kids' shoes to date have been the Smart Fit shoes at Payless, because the sizing is very consistent and also they're way cheap. Well, they had exactly two pairs of shoes in the boy's size that were actual boy shoes. The rest were all girl shoes. This is a complaint I have about Payless in general, by the way -- the kids' shoe section is invariably 70% girl shoes and 30% boy shoes. And the girl shoes are really overtly girly, too. So that was a bust. I don't think he even tried anything on.
Then we went to Mervyn's where he tried on three or four more pairs and declared them all uncomfortable. Then on to the discount shoe place in the mall, where he tried on two pairs that were also uncomfortable. Then on to the really expensive kids' shoe place in the mall where we learned the sizes only go up to 4, and he's more like a 4.5 or 5 although really we have no idea because THERE ARE NO TRIANGULAR SHOES ANYWHERE.
By this time there was only an hour left before taekwondo, so in a last-ditch effort we stopped by WalMart on the way home. The boy child tried on about half a dozen pairs before settling on one pair that was "almost perfect" except that something about the tongue was bothering him. I reached into an identical shoe and felt the seam where the tongue was stitched in, and asked him if that was where it hurt. But no, it hurt further up. So I loosened the laces of his shoes considerably, and he declared them perfect. And heavenly choruses sang, and I stopped mentally popping virtual Valium. As we were leaving the shoe area with the perfect shoes, we spotted these alternate shoelace things. They're elastic spirally things that you lace through your shoes in place of shoelaces, and you don't have to tie them. This is a plus because while the boy child CAN tie his shoes, it's a struggle and a lengthy one at that. Also, since the spirally things were elastic, we thought they might allow for more "give" over the tongue of the shoe and thus make them more comfortable for him.
So fine, we got the shoes and the laces and rushed home to get ready for taekwondo. While the boy child was changing, I put the new spirally lace things in his shoes. He tried them on. And said that now the seam where the tongue is stitched into the shoe, the seam he didn't even notice until I pointed it out in the store, was bothering him.
I give up. I think we're going to have to fashion him some footwear out of cardboard and duct tape. Maybe it can be a science project, or something.
The boy child, in addition to having AS and all sorts of sensory issues, also has weirdly shaped feet. They're really wide at the ball/toe area and really narrow at the heel with a high arch. DH's feet are exactly the same way, which I guess is another thing I can blame him for, haha. So not only is the boy bothered by the toe seams in his socks, the way the tongue is stitched into the shoe, the way the laces cross the tongue, etc. but there are essentially no shoes that are shaped the way his feet are shaped. So it was a fun day, as you can imagine.
First we went to Target, where the kids got new pajamas, socks and underwear and we also looked at shoes. The girl child found a pink pair in her size, tried them on, loved them and was done with the whole shoe-shopping thing in like 10 seconds.
The boy child tried on three or four pairs. They were all uncomfortable.
So then we went to the mall, to my old standby for kids' shoes: Payless. Nearly all of my kids' shoes to date have been the Smart Fit shoes at Payless, because the sizing is very consistent and also they're way cheap. Well, they had exactly two pairs of shoes in the boy's size that were actual boy shoes. The rest were all girl shoes. This is a complaint I have about Payless in general, by the way -- the kids' shoe section is invariably 70% girl shoes and 30% boy shoes. And the girl shoes are really overtly girly, too. So that was a bust. I don't think he even tried anything on.
Then we went to Mervyn's where he tried on three or four more pairs and declared them all uncomfortable. Then on to the discount shoe place in the mall, where he tried on two pairs that were also uncomfortable. Then on to the really expensive kids' shoe place in the mall where we learned the sizes only go up to 4, and he's more like a 4.5 or 5 although really we have no idea because THERE ARE NO TRIANGULAR SHOES ANYWHERE.
By this time there was only an hour left before taekwondo, so in a last-ditch effort we stopped by WalMart on the way home. The boy child tried on about half a dozen pairs before settling on one pair that was "almost perfect" except that something about the tongue was bothering him. I reached into an identical shoe and felt the seam where the tongue was stitched in, and asked him if that was where it hurt. But no, it hurt further up. So I loosened the laces of his shoes considerably, and he declared them perfect. And heavenly choruses sang, and I stopped mentally popping virtual Valium. As we were leaving the shoe area with the perfect shoes, we spotted these alternate shoelace things. They're elastic spirally things that you lace through your shoes in place of shoelaces, and you don't have to tie them. This is a plus because while the boy child CAN tie his shoes, it's a struggle and a lengthy one at that. Also, since the spirally things were elastic, we thought they might allow for more "give" over the tongue of the shoe and thus make them more comfortable for him.
So fine, we got the shoes and the laces and rushed home to get ready for taekwondo. While the boy child was changing, I put the new spirally lace things in his shoes. He tried them on. And said that now the seam where the tongue is stitched into the shoe, the seam he didn't even notice until I pointed it out in the store, was bothering him.
I give up. I think we're going to have to fashion him some footwear out of cardboard and duct tape. Maybe it can be a science project, or something.
posted by Miss Anthrope at 7:59 PM
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