Sunday, May 29, 2011

walking, shoes and school!

Zoe started taking consecutive steps early last week. She's had great balance for awhile, but never was interested in walking. So, Tuesday she takes her first steps, and Wednesday she is literally walking all over the house. It is the darnedest thing I've ever seen. She is still wobbly, of course, but she gets incredibly mad when she falls.

We all know Zoe is a great eater, which translates into having a few healthy chubby rolls here and there. This includes her feet. She has several pair of super cute shoes that she can't wear because the little fat pad on the top of her foot prevents the shoe from going on. She has Robeez, which fit, except for around the ankle. So, she's pretty much gone barefoot her whole life. Which is fine, I've never really put shoes on my kids unless they need them. But, since Zoe is walking she now needs them. Cody and I took her to Stride Rite last night because they are the only brand I know that offers W and XW widths for kids. Zoe needs an XW and they had exactly one pair in the store. And they were sneakers. I was hoping for something more like a sandal since it's summer so I opted to come home and look around on the internet. So far I've only found one brand other than Stride Rite that offers XW in kids' shoes. I'm completely confused, because I know of more kids that have chubby feet than don't, so I'd expect a bigger variety! I was also hoping for something with a very flexible sole, and the shoes I've found so far that would fit her have the very hard sole. So we're going to have to figure something out... she isn't into having anything on her feet to begin with and I think she'd boycott walking if I put a really hard sole on her foot.

On Friday I met with the school district to discuss Rhys's schooling for next year. Until the age of three the state provides services through ECI (Early Childhood Intervention), with all services provided in your home. After their third birthday, the child is transferred to the school district and no longer receives ECI. A couple weeks ago we had Rhys's evaluation with the ISD. Friday we discussed their "findings" and finished the paperwork. I'm so very excited about this program! The teachers and staff are great, and I think it is going to be wonderful for Rhys. He will go M-F from 8:10 to 11:10 a.m. I asked for bus transportation to and from school (even though we only live a mile or two away) because (a) it will be much easier than me toting three kids up there every day, but most importantly (b) I think it will be an official start/finish to Rhys's school day. The various teachers each established many goals specific to Rhys, that they will work on throughout the year. He will be in a classroom setting with approximately 6-8 kids and they will do things such as music, circle time, work on personal hygiene (washing hands, etc.), snack time, and various other activities. Even though a lot of therapy is integrated in the daily routine, he also qualified for OT/PT 1x every other week, speech 2x a week and vision 2x a month. This is above and beyond the private therapy we are in the process of setting up for Rhys. All the teachers have told me they see a lot of potential for Rhys's development so again, Cody and I are very excited for him to get this opportunity.

2 comments:

Risa said...

I have a 6 year old that has always had very wide feet (both side to side and top to bottom). His first pair of shoes was a stride rite xxw size 6, LOL (and yes only in one style, boring white) I have never been able to get his foot into anything from a regular store, always just stride rite. But this last pair of shoes I got from a children's shoe store are from a brand that Japan makes called Tsukihoshi. They don't come in wide widths per se but they are naturally a much wider shoe and they fit him great. I don't think they have sandals but I did see some cute, pink mary jane style shoes for baby girls that might work for you. You can look at them at amazon.com.

Life in the Kerlee Household said...

Have you tried Pedipeds? They are a bit pricey but worth every penny so long as they will fit her feet. These were my favorite shoes for both my kids.