You know the one. You can hear her child coming a mile away and you roll your eyes. "Why would anyone buy those shoes for their toddler?!!!" you ask to the person standing beside you. "Don't they realize how annoying that is!!!"
Well, I used to be that mom who indignantly rolled her eyes and scoffed at the other mom who had decided to wear squeaky shoes on their child. Now I am the mom that has decided that squeaky shoes are well worth the annoyance factor, particularly if they encourage my little boy to walk heel-to-toe, instead of on his tip-toes all of the time. After Jesse spent 5 weeks in a cast last summer, after he was cut with dirty casting scissors, after he went through three rounds of bloodwork to make sure he had not contracted HIV or Hepatitis B from the dirty casting scissors, I would endure squeaking day-in and day-out to prevent that from happening again.
If you're that mom, the one rolling her eyes at me (like I used to do to others), then thank your lucky stars that you don't need to resort to such measures. It's the whole, "until you've walked a mile in someone elses shoes" sort-of-thing. No pun intended.
And now what you've all been waiting for:
As you can probably see, they're working! The squeaker is in the heel, so every time Jesse squeaks, it means he's walking flat-footed, instead of on his toes. I'm a happy mama!
Many thanks to Amy, who suggested this to me! Any thoughts of becoming an occupational therapist Amy?