baby shoes

Scout just discovered shoes. She spent the first 10 or 11 months of her life wearing just socks (the shoes never fit; they would fall off, and why does an infant need shoes anyway?) and she's been more or less barefoot ever since. The barefoot thing was totally working for us, too, but now that she's started walking a little more freely, I decided it was time to give shoes another try.

In my past experience with Catcher shoes at this age were a nightmare. If you went for the user-friendly velcro kind, well, toddlers find them just as easy to use as adults and you end up with missing shoes (or your kid comes home from school with his shoes duct-taped shut and a note saying "Please provide shoes that tie for your child."). The only problem with shoes that tie is that toddlers are not known for sitting still and it can take 15 minutes of wrestle-mania to get them secured. And then there are no guarantees that the little one won't attack the shoes anyway, so you end up with a knotted mess or tripping toddler.

This time around, the shoe effect is opposite. Scout is the first child I've known who wants you to put her shoes on, and she doesn't try to take them off herself. She brings her shoes to me, holds them in the air and does this little whine-scream thing until I put them on her feet--even before bedtime! She's also known to get a little nasty if you take them off without her consent, and the other day she didn't like the pair I picked out for her and threw one at me before scampering off to bring me the shoes she wanted to wear. Having a boy, this behavior is all new to me. Is this where it begins?

Scout in her shoes relaxing on the sofa before bedtime. *I did manage to remove the shoes before putting her down in the crib.