Shoes…
For Jack, it was…and still is…anything in his size that is cheap…buy them. Pretty much, as long as they are not pink or have Dora on the side, they are fair game. Now, he will wear shoes for me that he won’t for his mom, but I think that’s just a power play.
Enter Tony. Suddenly it makes a difference what shoe he wears. We have bought slippers in the past for him, but not shoes. The only shoes he has ever worn are the ones that came with his AFO. Not bad shoes, but they have now seen better days. So the quest begins. Shoes that will fit over his brace but not swallow the other foot whole.
I thought about deliberately mix matching the shoes in the store, but I could just hear the nest buyer…
“Mom, that shoe doesn’t fit. It’s like a size smaller or something.”
“Shut up and wear your new shoes. We paid good money for them.
I tried the cheap and easy route. Some Diego shoes from the K-mart. He walked like a pigeon…more so than normal.
“We need to take him to a real; show store.” Sarah informed me. So I released my dream of cheap “he’ll grow out of them in 4 days, anyway” shoes and off we went to New Balance.
They have extra wide shoes for toddlers. Pretty nice for the brace. Yes the other shoe is a bit large for his foot, but it is better made than Diego and fits the foot much better. We also discovered that shoe strings are much better than Velcro straps. And the price wasn’t that bad. Now he has 2 pairs of shoes…Imelda Marcos watch out.
February 18th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
As soon as I saw Shoes in the title, I knew what this post was about. We have been dealing with AFO’s and shoes for almost 6 years now. It never gets easier, and sometimes it gets harder. Matthew got his newest AFO back in December and it did not fit his indoor soccer shoe that his last AFO (from November) fit into. ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!
That said, we are very lucky (at least I chose to see it as lucky) that his left foot is vastly smaller then his right, so a shoe that fits his AFO isn’t that much bigger then what he would normally wear on his right. The challenge is finding a good fit.
Here is a list of some places that will sell mis matched shoes, just in case you find it really hard to find shoes.
http://www.mixmatchshoes.com/
http://www.birkenstockexpress.com/Services/specialorders.cfm/topnav2.256
http://www.hatchbacksfootwear.com/index.htm
http://oneshoetwoshoe.net/
Not sure if oneshoetwoshoe sells kids shoes or not.
Good luck in the shoe quest, and remember, summer is right around the corner…ugghhh, new shoes again.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
I worked at a store for years and we were the only store that did Medical mismates (that is what we call them) Nordstroms still does that and they have a kids shoe section.
Checkout Wide and Narrow Shoes The coolest shoe blog on the net. Dedicated to style and fashion of all type for people with a “not-so-perfect” shoe size.