Feet

Mattie girl, I love your sweet, little soft feet.  I love to massage your feet when I rock you at night, holding your tiny, little heels and toes in the palm of my hand. They are so precious, but one thing's for sure, you definitely got your Mama's wide feet.  I'm sorry you had to take after me in that, for one day, you won't like the fact that you inheirited platapus feet. When you want to wear those sassy, strappy black heels to prom, and your sixth toe on each foot is bulging out like a hiatal hernia and your bunion is beaming in all it's glory on the other side, you'll have me to thank. Actually, you'll have Papa Santiago to thank, because my feet look EXACTLY like his. So, you'll choose the wide strapped heels, just like I did, and all will be fine.

But for now, I can't seem to find any REAL shoes that fit your pudgy, marshmellow feet. I stuff your toes into your shoes, only to realize that it's not so much the toes, but the round, puff-ball on top that's really the culprit. I pull and tug the little strap and smile as I velcro down the little 1 cm nub onto the opposite velcro.

I finally found some Stride Rite tennis shoes for you at Good Will, my absolute FAVORITE store. They were size five wide and your toes had plenty of room to wiggle and extend.  Until one day, after coming in from playing on the swingset out back, you started to really cry and follow me around. I thought it was strange, since you didn't do that very often, but I contributed it to you being hungry (since you are so very picky right now.) I took you and Laney inside to head toward to the kitchen, and noticed you were REALLY crying at this point and you were grabbing your left foot. I immediately took off your shoes, thinking you had stepped in an ant hill.  What I found was a severely smashed little pinky toe. I felt like a HORRIBLE MOTHER, thinking your pinky toe got pulled back when putting on your shoes. I rubbed it, kissed it, but you cried even harder. Oh, I felt so terrible! The next time and every time thereafter, I was so careful to make sure every toe was accounted for, and guess what?  Your pinky toe came out smashed again, not due to putting on your shoes incorrectly, but due to the fact that those Stride Rite 5w tennis shoes weren't wide enough.

I then tried some Target shoes that I bought on sale a few months back. After only a few MINUTES of you wearing these, here's what happened:

So, we have decided to forgo all hard-soled shoes and wear the Robeez shoes for now. I'm so thankful for Robeez! Mattie, I love you, and I absolutely ADORE your sweet, pudgy feet!