Special Feet

I’ve written before about Carter’s “special feet“.  For some unknown reason, he was born with only 8 toes – the typical 5 toes on his left foot, but only 3 on the right.  It’s not something that bothers us, and honestly there are times that I completely forget about it.  Until…I have to go buy shoes.

His feet are obviously different sizes, the right being almost 2 and a half sizes smaller than the left.  And typically we have to purchase two pairs of shoes to make one “Carter pair”.  In the beginning, there were some companies who were gracious enough to work with us by giving us a discount on the second pair, but we once got a pair of hand-me-down Crocs and slipped them on as we ran out the door one day. (We were running late.  I know you’re shocked.)  And lo-and-behold…they stayed on both feet!  One pair of shoes fit both feet!  The right shoe was still slightly loose, but I’d learned from experience (a sad, sad experience which left me shoe-less on vacation) that Crocs shrink in the heat.  So I popped that shoe in the dryer for a few minutes and ta-da!  A pair of shoes that fit perfectly!

Another little issue he has is that the ankle bones did not form properly and his ankle doesn’t bend left and right like a normal ankle.  So if we suspect that he will be doing a lot of running, we try to use shoes that will stabilize the ankle.  We have been using regular old hightops, but I was delighted to see that Crocs how has a new school-approved line of shoes with 13 options, including a Hi Top sneaker!  (Although I doubt I’ll be able to shrink one of those…)

Today is PE day for Lydia.  Last week I forgot and she scolded me for not sending her in tennis shoes for PE day.  I have to admit that in all the school shopping, I’d completely forgotten about tennis shoes (because we live in flip flops and sandals until November).  So I had to rush off and get some for her this weekend.  (Carter’s still fit from last year.)  Did you include new clothes and/or shoes in your school shopping?

If you haven’t gotten new shoes, yet, check out this interactive Crocs video…

[youtube]http://youtu.be/s1SIn-zwFMg[/youtube]

…and search for a little something near the end that may look a little like this:
Click on the hidden item and find a surprise for you from Crocs!

Thank you to Crocs for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about Crocs’ new Back to School line.
I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.