Yesterday I took Riley with me on my desperate trip to buy some closed toe shoes since my only pair that fit and were any good had broken about 2 weeks ago. 

It was the first afternoon I could even sneak out of work early to do shopping and I was looking forward to having a few hours by myself but Riley had started a few days before asking if he could come home on the bus instead of going to daycare and I decided to allow him to come.  I had about 5 errands to run – in addition to looking for some shoes – so I warned him ahead of time. 

After doing a couple of errands we ended up at DSW.  Luckily there are only men’s shoes there (not children’s) so he was forced to watch me and actually was pretty helpful.  But about 1/2 way through it, he started to show me the bottom of his sneakers…okay, he needed a new pair. 

So we headed down to a store down the street.  I picked up the shoe size measurer. 

He was a size 6!!!

Last time I bought him shoes they were a size 4 – that was six months ago!  If he keeps growing at this rate I will NEVER be able to afford food for the rest of us.  (and he only has one more size before he is in men’s sizes – and you know how much those cost!)

More importantly, I saw what a good boy / man he is becoming.  In DSW, he carried my shoes to the check out stand and waited patiently while I checked out.  Then, the woman at the checkout made a joke about him carrying one of the bags to the car and – he reached up and said, “No, I’ll carry both of them!” (and he did). 

Next we went to dollar tree to buy some snacks and he grabbed all of the bags and carried them to the car for me.  He picked one snack to share with his brother and sisters on the way to basketball after we picked them up. 

During all of the errands we got to talk about what was important to him and he told me about some of the things he has been thinking about.  It was one of the nicest afternoons I’ve had in a long time.  I am so proud of him and will gratefully pay for his ever expanding shoes!

Categories: Family