There are three things in life you should never delay: filing your taxes, visiting the doctor when things start to flutter, ooze, or become malodorous, and buying special occasion shoes for boys.� Left untended, the first will imprison you, the second will hospitalize you, and the third will kill you.
Knowing this, I should have bought the shoes for Nicholas’s baptism in January.� I should have shopped online from the comfort of my own home, the cost of shipping my fee for peace of mind.� But, no.� Something happened, although I am not sure what, and that something turned into that other thing which turned into two colds, the stomach flu, and the evening of February 5th.� The evening of February 5th coincided with the eve of Nicholas’s baptism and left me exactly two hours to find a pair of dress shoes for a boy.
And herein lies one of the most crucial differences in raising daughters and sons.� You tell the mother of a little girl she has two hours to find dress shoes and she says, “How will I ever decide what to buy in two hours?� The options are endless!”� You tell the mother of a little boy she has two hours to find dress shoes and, after looking at both pairs, will calmly turn to you and ask, “If I burn the Wolverines off the sides, do you think the smell of plastic will linger more than 24 hours?”
Did I mention I needed them in soft white?
I can best describe boys dress shoes by associating them with small pockets of male society not known for their imitable taste in fashion.� Accountants have the market on brown shoes cornered.� I imagine that, when drawing up the designs for Boy Dress Shoe No.2 in Brown, the designer sat back in their chair, arms akimbo, and thought, What would a guy named Stanley wear? The Reference Librarian at most universities is what comes to mind if I am looking for something in black.� Something about the way those rubber soles cotton-ball their way across the Stride Right floor say Dewey Decimal to me.� For white shoes it is, hands down, the orderly in a psychiatric hospital.� Sterile fields of solid white just waiting for an affective disorder to numb.
I went to nine stores and came up empty handed.� The entire time I imagined my sister-in-law, who was having her daughter baptized alongside Nicholas, sipping wine and idly flipping through a People Magazine on the sofa.� Nicholas is not an accountant, librarian, or nurse.� He’s a Catholic (now) and on Friday night he needed white shoes for his baptism.� I decided Nicholas would not be a man of numbers, letters, or science.� He would be a little boy in tan sneakers from Payless, a look that suited him just fine.� It helped that he and his cousin looked like angels.� No one ever looked at their feet.� (Not that Addison, a girl, had anything to worry about.)
Congratulations to Nicholas!
And I have to say I’ve never even looked at boys shoes but I imagine white boys shoes are hard to find. White girls shoes are easy, especially with spring and Easter coming. I think the hormonal teenage years make up for it. ;) j/k I love his little outfit!
What an adorable baptismal outfit! I would have immediately hit up the nearest bridal store!!! Surely they’d have SOMETHING!!!
Wanna’ see what my little girl (our first child baptized Catholic) wore last Valentine’s day for her baptism???
http://www.onesmallchild.com/detailviews.aspx?productid=3512
I LOVED it and will love it forever. And she didn’t actually wear shoes. I figured nobody would notice, you know, with all of that lace and everything :)
Oh sing it! Do I know what you mean!!!
Beween spiderman and spongebob, I opt for the pricey Stride Rite store and hour and a half away. God help you when they start expressing their own style.
In a related shoe story, my 8yo was watching the grammy show and exclaimed “look at those shoes” when Beyonce came dancing in : )
Happy Baptism! He is the cutest.
Yay – another Catholic :-)
Geesh, Nico totally reminded me of Paul in the first photo. Too cute and you are correct – with faces as cute as those – who is looking at the shoes?????
See you Friday, girlie
Love ya – K
Kelly–you have a point. Good luck with that. ;)
Susan–She looks beautiful! I love all that old fashioned lace, and the bonnet is so very sweet. :) You should have seen Mikey’s baptism outfit. He was a good deal younger so I went a little overboard. {blush}
Oh, and I did go to a bridal store! They had a knock of version of THESE (!!!!!!!) in white. I rest my case.
Becky–I am very, very afraid of them expressing their own style. Very, very afraid.
Your boys have the cutest smiles, with their cheeks and sparkly eyes!
I’ve found that the choices for shoes for boys doesn’t get much easier as they get older. My boys (11 y.o. twins) are currently in the “no-man’s-land” size 6 smack dab between Boys and Mens. The ONLY option is online these days.
I’m so sorry that I laughed so hard reading this post! I totally know what you mean. Finding white shoes for a boy is like finding white shoes for a January Wedding. Let-me-tell-you! I think that some of us boy moms need to get together and start a new line of clothing and shoes. We’d make a mint!
Even so, those are some gorgeous photos of the baptism!
Jules, NO WAY :( I am shocked about the bridal store news… Good to know though! Well, at least you’ll never forget what he wore that day, right??? And he can wear them over and over again now, ha ha ha.
P.S. That IS a darling little girl in the pictures, but she isn’t my daughter (that’s just the model and site shots from where I purchased her dress), and those pictures really don’t do it justice, but I gave it a try and was beyond pleased :) I would totally recommend that place to anybody. I would have shared a link to an actual picture of my daughter, but our family site is private at this point.
Have a good day!
I totally loved the sneakers he wore. Yes, shopping for shoes for boys is a challenge, I found it way easier with clothes. Girls are way to picky. If it makes you feel any better when my 26 year old got married she wore flip flops with her nice wedding dress, I was totally freaking out and guess what nobody even noticed. And the boys wanted to wear shorts tuxedo’s but my daughter said no. It was funny. I aslo think that living here in Southern Cali is different. My gf from Texas always tells me what the heck did I bring all those fancy dresses with me for?? LOL . Great big hugs to Nicholas and tell him congratulations.
I didn’t even read yet just wanted to say GAH! Kill me, this was the cutest outfit of all time!
Too funny! Our first was a girl (she’s 2.5) and my friends with boys always told me the girl section was at least 2x bigger than the boy clothes section. I never looked at boy clothes, but I know they’re correct. I must admit I do love dressing Sophia cutely (new word invention). But she’s going to get a baby brother in two months and we’re excited about that! We didn’t find out what sex she’d be, so it was a new experience to get a bunch of baby boy things on the super-duper clearances! I must add one thing on the plus side for dressing a boy, though. I thought it was easier buying for him because I didn’t have to think about seasons quite so much. Pants? Check! Doesn’t matter what season because boys wear pants 365 days/year! Living in Seattle it doesn’t (usually) get super hot, so I just got a bunch of pants and shirts and a few sweatshirts and called it good! So I have to say in that respect it was easier. For what it’s worth! I think the shoes you got were smart because they look like he’ll be able to wear them for many other occasions too!
I love this post. And NOTED on the boys shoe selection.
This is why I put Troy in Converse for everything. I am too busy buying Zoe sparkly stuff.
The Payless kicks were a double good call; he looks ADORABLE.
I’m so sorry :). I totally feel your pain. I made the 11 year old squeeze his borderline manly feet into too-small dress shoes for months because I couldn’t stand that man dress shoes cost roughly twice what boy shoes cost. Even at payless. :) I love the tan kicks. And that outfit! Too cute. My solution for all boy shoe issues is Converse.
Oh man, we have our 10-month-old’s baptism coming up on Easter Sunday. This was the kick in the pants I needed! I am so ordering his outfit right now. Where did you get his outfit? He’s adorable!
Adrianne,
I had it made at a very reasonably tailor near me. It was much cheaper than anything (decent) I found online or in stores. That’s another thing about little boys–the baptism outfits for toddlers or small boys are either prohibitively expensive or cheap satin nightmares. I can’t remember for sure, but I believe it is a Vogue pattern. You can find it at any JoAnns.
Still laughing at this. So funny and so true. The shoes, the outfit and the smile are all perfectly little boy heaven.
Your boys are getting so BIG and adorable as always!
He’s definitely rocking those sneakers – the whole ensemble is fantastic. And you’re too funny! Loved your recounting.
Very smart! My mother-in-law picked one up at TJ Maxx (it’s too small, so we have to return it) but it smells awful. I like this idea…