The Shoe Gene

Abigail has a shoe addiction. She did not learn a love for shoes from me. I am known to wear shoes until they have holes in their soles. Until I started working again recently, I wore my brown crocs almost every single day since Abby was born. I'm serious. So, where did Abigail acquire this shoe fettish? Did she maybe inherit it? Hmmmm.... oh, yes, now I remember. I once overheard Aunt Kim and Aunt Cori getting to know each other for the first time...and I am certain that they were laughing about their shared love for shoes... Aunt Cori summed it up by saying, "you know, a pair of shoes just isn't worth a girl's time if she doesn't have to pop a few Advil to wear them."Given that both Aunts have boys, I think Abigail has a good shot at being spoiled by her aunts in the shoe department! :-) They all share the shoe "gene" afterall.

Early signs of Abigail's addiction popped up before she had much of a vocabulary. She would go all the way to my closet and bring me shoes when she wanted to go "bye-bye", and, even more memorably, she would join Jake in the closet and hold shoes up to him. Even if he already had other shoes on, she would throw a fit if he did not take her recommendation. Later on, all the workers at our gym's kid's club were on "shoe alert" when Abigail (around 18 months) arrived because she had swiped a pair of fake crocs one time.

Lately, at her new preschool, they have told me that she is doing very well with everything, but that the one thing to note is that she chronically puts on another little girl's shoes the moment she takes them off... as if she is watching and waiting for the exact moment to pounce.

This morning, she had taken a "Family Fun" magazine off my bedside table and was flipping through it. So I asked her to find an activity in there that looked like fun for us to do soon. Next thing I know, she is excitedly hollering, "Mommy! Mommy" "Can we go buy these shoes today?" She has spotted an ad for Payless and set her heart on a pair of sparkly tennis shoes....

But here is the best shoe story of all... Mimi picked Abby up from Spanish class last week, fed her lunch and then dropped her off at her preschool. In filling Mimi in on the important details she needs to know to lend a hand with Abby when I am at work, I made a point to tell her that Abby must wear tennis shoes to preschool and warned her that even though I had put the tennis shoes on before leaving for work, Abby might try to change her shoes and persuade Mimi that it is ok. Well, last week, when Mimi picked Abby up from Spanish she had on some brown suede-like shoes with flowers. Mimi did not say a word, but on her own initiative, Abby simply said, "these are tennis shoes, Mimi". Mimi let her wear them to school. So when I picked her up from school that afternoon, I immediately noticed the shoes and asked her if Mimi had given them to her. She said "yes" and assured me that she had told Mimi thank you for the new shoes. Later on, I also thanked Mimi for buying Abby the new shoes... Mimi said "your welcome." So, here is the good part. The next day when I dropped Abby off at Spanish, one of the other mother's approached me and said, "oh, good, Abby is wearing Sienna's shoes! Sienna has Abby's tennis shoes!" I very confidently replied by saying, "oh, no, I'm sorry. But these brown shoes are Abby's. Her grandma bought them for her last week." The other mother and the teacher looked at me funny and then the teacher told me the story about how Abby had put this other little girl's shoes on before Mimi picked her up. Then Abby left before the other little girl's mother arrived to pick her up. The icing on the cake is that Mimi thought maybe she had forgotten buying the shoes, and she actually accepted my thanks when I mentioned it. Too funny!

So, I have finally come to the point of accepting the fact that my daughter has inherited the "shoe gene", a fact that will surely impact our entire family's life significantly. The evidence is undeniable... lest you think I am being negative, take a look for yourself... http://littlegraymatters.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-shoes_11.html and http://littlegraymatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/popop-little-cinderella_17.html and see #14 here http://littlegraymatters.blogspot.com/2009/08/priceless-conversations_29.html and see #6 here http://littlegraymatters.blogspot.com/2009/04/trials-and-triumphs-of-terrible-twos_07.html. But we are all committed to helping her live the most normal life possible...