Less than 2 months ago I bought Jonas these sneakers. I bought them from the Osh Kosh outlet. I didn’t buy them because I liked them, I bought them because they were the only pair of boys shoes I could find in his size after searching five different stores. I actually thought they were a little ugly. At Osh Kosh they retailed for $38, which is a little insane for kid shoes. They were on sale for about $28, which was still high for me, but justifiable after dragging two delinquent under 5’s through every store in Vacaville. I told myself that it was ok because he had just barely hit this size, and since I was paying through the nose at a store known for quality, these shoes would last.

The first day Jonas wore them to school he came home with the toe leather scuffed off. About a week later they started smelling like a bag of moldy Cheetos soaked in tabasco sauce. This has a lot to do with the fact that I can barely get Jonas to wear socks. They smelled so awful that wild animals would come running hoping for a bite. Ok, not really. But they did smell bad enough that I nearly drove off the freeway when Jonas took them off in the car one day.

When I picked Jonas up from school yesterday, the sole of one shoe was 3/4th of the way disconnected from the bottom. The other shoes was working as hard as it could to catch up and I knew that it was time to lay these ugly, stinky shoes to rest.

Jonas requested Spiderman, lace-up, light-up wonder shoes. I had a Mervyn’s store credit so I went really hoping that they would have something in his size that fit the bill. I also needed them to be inexpensive enough to buy Maggie another holiday dress since she cut a hole in the front of hers with scissors (that’s a whole ‘nother post though.) I was in luck. Mervyn’s has a sale going on, and I found shoes to the exact specifications 40% off for about $15.

Jonas was thrilled. The sock law was laid down. Maggie took one look at his fancy shoes and her fancy dress and declared, “I want Dora shoes!” I will never be caught up will I?