Bare Feet

Ethan's two latest things are providing us (mostly me) with a heavy dose of frustration as well as some comic relief. The first is that he refuses to keep his shoes and socks on. Ever. As soon as I put them on, he takes them off. Now, considering that we are coming out of a record-breaking cold stretch, you can imagine the problems this causes. I try to get the boys bundled up with jackets, hats, shoes and socks before we get into the car, so I don't have to stand in the freezing air tying shoes and zipping jackets after we arrive at our destination. Since Ethan won't leave his shoes and socks on in the car, I end up standing in the freezing air anyway. After about a week of putting his shoes on twice for every outing, I started telling him that if he took them off, I would not put them back on, and his feet would get very cold. Ethan is a very bright little dude, and he completely understood me, but decided to call my bluff anyway. He had them all off before I'd pulled out of the driveway. And so I took him into Publix barefoot. I got quite a few stares and two people even commented, but I just explained the situation (more for his benefit than theirs). After several days of carrying him bare foot everywhere we went, he started to figure out that he didn't like never getting down and walking around. I think the icing on the cake was when we all went to Toys R Us on Saturday: he took his shoes off, so Daddy and I wouldn't let him get down and play with the Thomas train table. He had to sit in the cart and watch Caleb play by himself. He wailed his pitiful, "I SAAAA-AAAD!!! I SORRY, MAMA! SORRY!!!!!!" but he stayed in the cart. Since then he has left his shoes on more than half the time. I'm pretty sure the little booger actually weighs where we are going and whether or not he has anything to lose. He took them off on the way to Publix yesterday (where he always has to sit in the cart anyway), but left them alone on the way to church tonight. Little stinker :)

See tomorrow's post for Ethan's other issue, which is much funnier and even more frustrating.