One of the hardest things for me to remember is to check how Iliya's shoes fit. I just can't get the hang of it, and I don't know why. I guess when I put them on him, I just don't think about how small they look in comparison with his foot.

But last week, when he started begging to wear his "NaNa CHU" (sandal shoes), I should've taken the hint. Of course not! I let him wear his sandals...because I figured he loved them. And he may, who knows? But then he got in the habit of taking them off at school. Which, as a former preschool teacher, I know is very frustrating to the teachers. So, we came up with an idea. Start the day with sandals, and if he took them off, then his teacher would put his tennis shoes on him. We had hoped that the prospect of wearing his tennis shoes might deter him from taking the sandals off his feet.

And he seemed to get it (a little bit, anyway)...because when he needed to take his shoes off (to get sand out, for instance), he would run to his cubby, grab the tennis shoes, and take them to his teacher for a shoe change.

On Monday, when he came home in his tennis shoes, I happened to glance down at his feet, and his poor shoes looked near to bursting. When I checked them, I was abhorred to realize that his big toe was to the end (and then some) of his shoes. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take him by the shoe store that afternoon...so yesterday, I sent him in sandals, without the change of tennis shoes. Somehow, I couldn't see torturing him with shoes way too small for something like taking his sandals off.

When I picked him up from school, his teacher told me that he had taken his sandals off a hundred times, if once...so I knew that we really needed to make time to go by the shoe store for a new pair of tennis shoes.

He didn't seem thrilled to try on new shoes...but when we got the right fit, he literally galloped through the store. He seemed excited. As if his feet were saying, "Finally!! FREEDOM!!"

And this morning, he took a look at his old tennis shoes and said, "BABY shoes." And promptly pointed to the new shoes on his feet and said, "BIG shoes!"

Proud parenting moment #562.