Baby Hugh loves....velcro...but not just any old velcro...

Specifically velcro on brand new Stride Rite shoes. His next favorite thing to do is throw the aforementioned velcro shoe out of the stroller. Never to be found again. Not that I didn't try!

Now that Hugh is getting pretty close to walking I thought it was time to get him some shoes. Knowing that going barefoot is better developmentally the shoes really are for when we are not at home and he won't sit still. He loves to cruise around and check out what's going on in the world which means I am holding two little hands and trying to keep up with his surprisingly quick pace. A number of friends had really positive things to say about Stride Rite so I followed their lead and got Hugh sized for his "first" pair of shoes. And here they are

Cute, right? Expensive for sure - $42! They were having a buy one get one 50% off so I bought a second pair a size bigger so he has something to grow into. They didn't have the same shoe so we opted for this....can you tell I like blue and red?

And now to the point of the story....I hadn't even paid for the shoes before Hugh had lifted up the velcro tab and taken the shoe off. That's when I should have said "you know what lets switch these for something he can't take off in 3 seconds flat". But I didn't and so it was that a few days later I get back to the car and the case of the missing shoe began. I went back to every store that we had been to to see if anybody had kindly returned a teeny, tiny yet expensive shoe. Alas it wasn't to be. The somewhat frustrating part was the response of the customer service person at the last shop I had been to: "oh I saw him playing with the shoe and taking it off". Note to self if I ever see a baby playing with their shoes I will tell the adult with them. Because my little man certainly didn't turn around and say "here mother, I managed to remove my shoe". So somewhere between that store and the car the shoe was flung from the stroller. RIP little Stride Rite Skip.

This made me realize that Stride Rite is missing out on a huge market. Just selling the left or right shoe at a premium price!