Shoes!

School starts in less than a week. I've been going through the kids' things and doing a little back to school shopping. To my horror, I realized that both kids' feet have had a major growth spurt and neither of them had any shoes that fit! Well, other than some flip flops for the pool.  So over Son's protests, we set out today to acquire shoes for school, multiple pairs since they need some at school for gym and when they wear snow boots (which still need to be purchased).  Anyway, I spent a small fortune and outfitted the kids with new shoes.

Son has a diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), more about that to come. As part of this, tying shoes is very difficult for him. He can do it in a pinch, but he hates to because it is so hard. Unfortunately for him, his feet have reached a size (as big a mine!) in which it is almost impossible to find velcro straps or anything other than laces on trainers. Mom to the rescue! On Clean Run.com I found Lock Laces and replaced his regular laces with these elastic laces which have a little slider to keep them tight.  I use them in my agility shoes. So Son will be able to slide his new shoes on and off with out tying them. In true pre-teen fashion, he has expressed no appreciation of my genius and resourcefulness. 
We found some New Balance in a narrow for Daughter at Stride Rite. What a find! She says, "Mom, these feel great!"  Yeah, because they fit. It's so hard to find shoes in a narrow width.
Okay, so I came home with new shoes too. I bought the new dog walking New Balance trainers I needed at Famous Footwear, but it was buy one, get one half off. Couldn't pass on that. I've been wanting a pair of Rocket Dog shoes for ages. Aren't these cute?