Getting glassy eyed about shoes!

Is it just me or is it true of all you mommies out there? It takes very little to send me oohing and aahing down the nostalgia lane! M of course snigger's on my crazy ways.. but then he is not a Mommy, so who is he to talk? Even imperfect mommy's like me take that trip down the memory lane once too often and fret about their kids growing up way too fast! I already have a kindergartner on my hands, can you believe that? I can't!

I bet you are wondering what caused this misty eyed look? We were visiting family in India and a little kid just over an year old toddled up the street and to our house. As I was yapping with his mommy (M's cousin) the kid refused to stay still! He kept hopping up and down the little step in front of our house! While little Mr. Cutie's penguin like trot was very reminiscent of Cheeky, it was the shoes that did me in and that made him keep hopping! They were light up shoes!

When he was a toddler, Cheeky would walk with his hand out on the side balancing his unsteady trot with his hands extending away from his body. Cheeky had taken his time walking.. he walked at about 14 months.. but then I have wondered it that was a ploy too. He had just upped and walked one day after making us wait for him to take those little steps! No holding furniture and trotting about mind you, just one fine day he got up and walked! Meanwhile as we waited, friends and family seemed to have a fascination for shoes! Even before he was born a friend of mine got him 4 pairs of shoes. Apparently she had gone shopping and had fallen for the tiny shoes.. so the unborn Cheeky got lucky. That had kind of set the precedent, everyone would get him shoes, from around the world too! He had shoes from UK, US, Nepal and so on. He had little squeaky ones, ones with floppy ears, ones with trucks and cars, canvas ones, cloth ones, woolen shoes and shiny mirrored shoes (like that of an Indian Prince). However the ones that he loved where the ones that lit up. I am sure each one of you got that for your kids.. The Laser light shoes - like this one. Little Mr. Cutie had one such on, and it even prompted a comment from the Big Cheeky Imp about how cute that looked.

I of course got misty eyed.. and made the mistake of asking the cool dude if he wanted one. I was immediately admonished "Amma, I need tie shoes not those baby ones" he said! In case you are wondering what tie shoes are.. they are the lace up ones! Cheeky has been asking me for one for such a long time now.. while I have been getting him all the rip tape ones!

I have always worried about shoes. It is so difficult to make sure that the shoes fit the little feet perfectly. That they are not going to trip and fall from shoes that are bigger or get blisters from smaller shoes! Talking of which, we all have unique feet and sometimes when we pick the shoe of a rack it just isn't perfect is it? I have always wondered why they no longer made custom shoes like olden days! I would love to have custom shoes just for me! And then I found this site online - Boys shoes. They have detailed instructions on how you can take a pic of the little feet on a grid and upload it, so they can make custom shoes just for your little one's feet. They also tell you how to make sure the shoes fit just right! Seems like an answer to my prayers, eh? Moreover they have a nice parenting community too that you can check out! Do check them out! They do deliver across UK and to some countries outside the UK too. Check out their store locator and see if you are lucky to be in one of those locations!
As for me.. I am going to go dream some more about shoes!