14.5.10

The Shoes of the Fisherman

Dear Diary,

I hate Walmart. And not just because it's an evil multinational corporation who won't fill birth control prescriptions and puts everyone else out of business, etc. etc. I just hate going there. I'm not a big box store person. I prefer small stores or, better yet, online stores that don't require that I get out of my chair and put on pants to shop. But a couple months ago, we had a toddler shoe crisis, in that we had no shoes for Edwin. Like, at all. He had shoes, but they were getting too small and he had nothing to wear in the mud, and nothing that didn't require socks and... I just freaked out and decided he needed a million pairs of shoes ASAP.

Edwin has small feet for his age; he's only a size 4 (actually more like 3.75) and many of the choices for size 4 are "pre-walkers" (whereas my boy is quite post-walking, thank you very much.) Soooo, after many frustrating trips to various shoe stores and finding NOTHING for him, we decided to hit Walmart. And OMG, I found the cutest $10 fisherman sandals for him. Behold:    




The BHE calls them mandals. But whatever; Edwin is secure enough in his masculinity that he can totally pull off mandals. He loved them, they were easy to get on and off, they were totally synthetic so you could just hose them down after a muddy day. So of course, he took one off at a party last weekend and now it's gone. GONE. (It was a pretty wild party; it could be anywhere.) The hostess has not seen it, and she is a very neat and organized person and I'm sure she would notice a toddler mandal lying around.

And now I can't find them anywhere. Not Target, not Walmart (I even checked the website; they are "unavailable".) There are similar styles online but they're like $40. Seriously? I barely spend that much on shoes for myself. AND the ones I've seen online don't have the cute stitching. The stitching!
I'm really upset about this for some reason. Really, really, way too upset. Those mandals really pulled his outfits together. Now he's just another toddler in flip flops.

Love,
Fluffy

5 comments:

The Mermaid Cottage said...

Well bummer! I looked on Walmart.com and could find them at several Baltimore area Walmarts in size 3 but alas...no size 4! Where the hell could that mandal be?????

Kate said...

Affordable little shoes that don't look like they should be matched up with a muscle tee and cut-offs are a pain in the ass to find.

Hippie at Heart said...

I was at our Walmart today & while looking for my daughter some shoes I noticed about 49,000 pairs of your beloved mandals & they had plenty size 4. I remembered you looking for them so I snapped a picture with my cell phone so I could verify they were the same shoe & indeed they are. I know this I'm just some random internet stranger to you but if you're still having a difficult time finding him these shoes then I'd be happy to send you a pair or 2. Trust me, I know how difficult it is to find shoes that are cute & fit! When you find them you better stock up!

maganharries@gmail.com

Hippie at Heart said...

And evidently I'm a random internet stranger who's fingers can't differentiate between "this" & "that". Ugh. I hate when my typos are recorded for all posterity.

CaraBee said...

One time I took my daughter, then about a year old, to the grocery store and halfway through the store noticed one of her shoes was gone. I panicked, retracing every step, talked to the manager, left them my name and number if it turned up. Searched the parking lot and my car. They weren't expensive shoes, but they were just the perfect black mary janes. No flowers or sparkles, just plain mary janes. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find little girls' shoes without a bunch of frilly crap on it. The was the first time I had put her in them. And, like you, it was the last in her size. I was desolate.

I go home and there it sits, in the middle of the kitchen. Mocking me. I loaded her in her carseat, unloaded her, loaded her in the cart and pushed her around for 20 minutes before I realized that my kid only had one shoe on. Parent of the year? Yep.

Good luck in your search for a replacement!