One Foot, Two Foot, Sock Foot, Shoe Foot

Do you remember being a child and having one shoe come untied and after a while you just kicked it off?  Maybe you didn't feel like re-tying it or it was just nice to have it off for a while.   And yet your other shoe was on, but that didn't seem to matter.

It was an interesting sensation, having one foot taller with the shoe than the socked foot.  It was a strange feeling to walk around off-set in height.  It was also, in a strange way, fun.   I remember one time walking around for hours with just one shoe on many years ago.

My children don't seem to care if they have both, one or no shoes on.  Last night I took one shoe off to get something out, like a pebble, and I had to go take care of some child thing immediately, so I launched into action with only one shoe.    It took me several minutes to get back to my shoe, but it reminded me of my childhood.

Was it a novel feeling?  No.  Was it interesting enough to not bother putting the other shoe back on.  Definitely not.  I felt awkward and just wanted to get back to the missing shoe so I could get some foot-based sameness back in my life. 

Children are so flexible mentally.  Everything is new and everything is interesting.  Once we get old it's all about what we know is what we like and everything else has got to go.

The Big Boy Update:  "Papa, turn on the dark."  Nana brought flashlights for the children to play with in their tent today.  My son wanted to see what they looked like, but it wasn't even remotely close to being night time.  After a few minutes he turned to Papa and said, "Papa, turn on the dark."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The cutest grocery shopper.  My daughter went to the grocery store with me this morning.  For the first time, she pushed around the little children's cart.  She followed me everywhere through the store with adults smiling and commenting all along the way.  She helped put canned goods into the cart and on the next aisle, she decided to select a bag of sugar and then two bags of coconut to put in her cart that I put back when she wasn't looking.   She presented the cashier with our card at checkout and then she put her cart back in the cart area as we got ready to leave the store.   It was, without a doubt, one of those, "cutest kid ever" moments.