Soft-Soled Shoes

*Insert big dramatic sigh*

I'm a lazy bum.  No, I'm not really.  But I feel like I am because what I really really really want to do is to fill you in on all sorts of interesting goings-on around here, and I can't.  And do you know why I can't?  Because I have not found the time in the past several days to drag myself and two children down to the other end of town and buy a little thingy (the technical term is 'weird box thingy with a funny wire-y bit sticking out of one side', but I figured we're all friends here) that will allow me to download the pictures off of my new camera's memory card onto my computer and from thence to this blog.  And because I don't have this fantastical invention at the ready, I have a great camera, practically bursting with neat-o pictures I would like to share with you, and they are sealed up in that camera like Rapunzel on date night.

ANYway.  Instead...here are shoes.

NEW SHOES!  Anyone else love new shoes?  If you go by Facebook's ads I am strangely obsessed with footwear because they are constantly trying to get me to click on store ads selling them.  I'm not, by the way, I think I maybe own three pairs of shoes.  Okay, to be honest, I own more than three pairs of shoes but the others are not really 'public-wear shoes', because of minor technicalities such as the sole falling off, or something.  Hick shoes.

But the new shoes in question are for Clara Bear.

This is the first time I've tried soft-soled boots, but not the first time I've tried the Robeez brand, which seems to be the best-known soft-soled footwear option out there.  We use soft-soled shoes for our children until about age two, which is when the foot has developed all of it's bones.  Even then, I really only use a firmer soled shoe in certain circumstances, and we stay barefoot or as close to it as possible.  Samuel's first soft-soled shoe was a Robeez-styled shoe made by Joe Fresh.  Once he graduated out of those we put him in Robeez, and then in Soft Star shoes.  After the Soft Star shoes were too small he was about two years old and wore 'regular' shoes if we found ourselves somewhere that Mama and Daddy felt a more protective sole was needed, otherwise he wore a larger Robeez size that he's still in now.

Having played it 'safe' with Samuel's styles and brands, I'm excited to try some new types of soft-soled shoes on Clara.  These boots are one of my 'new' endeavours.  I've also acquired a pair of See Kai Run shoes, and a pair by Stride Rite.  I saved Samuel's soft shoes as well, and so she'll have those to try, although they are very boyish, and I picked up an incredibly cute little pair of Robeez with tulips on them, if you please, which are so adorable I can't even look at them for too long.

If you haven't read much about the development of the foot, you might find it interesting.  You can read a bit about it here.  Or for other reasons to try soft-soled shoes, check out this article, or this one.



Samuel - 1 year old in his first pair of Robeez.