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Thursday: shoes
I walked with M. in the afternoon. I was pretty tired, because A. and I went to Anita’s Shoe Boutique. We got Anita this time, and she was every bit as helpful and delightful as the woman who helped me buy sandals before the trip to Europe.
A. is tough to buy shoes for. Her feet are wider than mine, higher volume than mine both in width and height. She has sensory issues. And she likes pink. A lot. We left with a couple pairs of Arcopedico LS (in titanium, and some kind of red color). We also ordered a pair in a pink — not sure if it was the fuschia or the pink. We also ordered a pair of Wolky sandals in Baltic Blue. And we walked out with Remonte in Jocelyn for me, which I absolutely did not need, but liked a lot, and a pair of SAS “Relaxed Heel Strap” (yeah, that really does appear to be the name) for A.
I’ve ordered some Propet Ultras for her on the Amazon try before you buy — the color is great, they have them in widths and Propet has worked for us in the past.
I’m feeling hopeful about the LS — lots of colors, stable styling, wide size range and that sock style is very forgiving of weird foot issues. If the sole works for at least one of us, we are good. If it works for both of us, that may be all we wear forever. We shall see.
It’s really interesting to me that the part on the shoe that can press painfully big toe knuckle (?) where it meets the rest of my foot (both feet) is _also_ the part that A. has huge sensory issues around. Just having width in the toe box is not enough — it has to be tall enough not to compress, and a lot of people really don’t like having extra height there because the shoe won’t stay on. It’s really a big fit problem. I feel like a wrap design with a lot of velcro would be ideal, especially for use in the PE class or whatever. But in the meantime, the ultra sloppy sock style shoe is probably where we are at.
ETA:
I have a pair of completely ridiculous size 9 men’s adidas shoes that are themed to look like Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc. (Back of left shoe says “It’s not easy”, back of right says, “being green”, and yes, they are fuzzy and blue and purple.) There is actually the right amount of space in the often-offending part of the toebox for me, so I’m going to have her try them on. I doubt she will wear them, but if they work, I might be able to find more normal looking ones.
ETAYA:
She does not like how stiff the Stan Smith’s are, so I had her try on my Reebok Princess. Those are fine, altho, to be fair, they are quite broken in. I’m going to wait and see how the Propet Ultras work, and maybe have her try my Hokas. FitFlop also has some sneakers that might be worth trying.
ETA still more:
A. and I went over to the Maynard 110 Grill and had dinner. Then we went home, walked over to the high school and back to estimate how long that would take her if she walked, which she may do on days where her brother takes his bike to school. If he drives, he can drive her, too.
We went through more of the shoes in the house. 2 Easy Spirit slides which are both nominally 10WW are dramatically different sizes; the too small pair went into the donation box. I took my backstrap Fitflops, which were a replacement for a pair I destroyed that I couldn’t get an exact copy of, retried them on, concluded that they really are never going to be a sandal I choose to wear, especially now that I have a pair of black Rothys. Off to donation with them! The sadly beaten down Skechers — tried to replace, but that style discontinued and I know a lot of the other current styles do not work for me — went into the box as well.
We pulled the laces entirely out of the allbirds and they became a maybe.
The Hokas are a yes. Yay! They are pink and purple and I love them too but you know, I wasn’t wearing them because it turns out those Reebok princess shoes are fantastic. It took a minute for A. to get the hang of the Hokas, but once she quit fighting them she loved them. They really want to go go go!
I found some unworn black Propets in 9 quad E. They work for both of us, so those are sticking around. I found some Propet black Mary Janes and she says those are still fine. I think she actually has quite a few viable choices, including ones she can integrate into various outfits and ones for PE. We can move on to other aspects of her wardrobe, which are also important, but less prone to Oh No I Can’t Leave the House Because My Shoes Don’t Fit. In an emergency, there will always be something of mine she can wear. (Altho to be honest, that is increasingly true of the shoes as well.)
A. is tough to buy shoes for. Her feet are wider than mine, higher volume than mine both in width and height. She has sensory issues. And she likes pink. A lot. We left with a couple pairs of Arcopedico LS (in titanium, and some kind of red color). We also ordered a pair in a pink — not sure if it was the fuschia or the pink. We also ordered a pair of Wolky sandals in Baltic Blue. And we walked out with Remonte in Jocelyn for me, which I absolutely did not need, but liked a lot, and a pair of SAS “Relaxed Heel Strap” (yeah, that really does appear to be the name) for A.
I’ve ordered some Propet Ultras for her on the Amazon try before you buy — the color is great, they have them in widths and Propet has worked for us in the past.
I’m feeling hopeful about the LS — lots of colors, stable styling, wide size range and that sock style is very forgiving of weird foot issues. If the sole works for at least one of us, we are good. If it works for both of us, that may be all we wear forever. We shall see.
It’s really interesting to me that the part on the shoe that can press painfully big toe knuckle (?) where it meets the rest of my foot (both feet) is _also_ the part that A. has huge sensory issues around. Just having width in the toe box is not enough — it has to be tall enough not to compress, and a lot of people really don’t like having extra height there because the shoe won’t stay on. It’s really a big fit problem. I feel like a wrap design with a lot of velcro would be ideal, especially for use in the PE class or whatever. But in the meantime, the ultra sloppy sock style shoe is probably where we are at.
ETA:
I have a pair of completely ridiculous size 9 men’s adidas shoes that are themed to look like Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc. (Back of left shoe says “It’s not easy”, back of right says, “being green”, and yes, they are fuzzy and blue and purple.) There is actually the right amount of space in the often-offending part of the toebox for me, so I’m going to have her try them on. I doubt she will wear them, but if they work, I might be able to find more normal looking ones.
ETAYA:
She does not like how stiff the Stan Smith’s are, so I had her try on my Reebok Princess. Those are fine, altho, to be fair, they are quite broken in. I’m going to wait and see how the Propet Ultras work, and maybe have her try my Hokas. FitFlop also has some sneakers that might be worth trying.
ETA still more:
A. and I went over to the Maynard 110 Grill and had dinner. Then we went home, walked over to the high school and back to estimate how long that would take her if she walked, which she may do on days where her brother takes his bike to school. If he drives, he can drive her, too.
We went through more of the shoes in the house. 2 Easy Spirit slides which are both nominally 10WW are dramatically different sizes; the too small pair went into the donation box. I took my backstrap Fitflops, which were a replacement for a pair I destroyed that I couldn’t get an exact copy of, retried them on, concluded that they really are never going to be a sandal I choose to wear, especially now that I have a pair of black Rothys. Off to donation with them! The sadly beaten down Skechers — tried to replace, but that style discontinued and I know a lot of the other current styles do not work for me — went into the box as well.
We pulled the laces entirely out of the allbirds and they became a maybe.
The Hokas are a yes. Yay! They are pink and purple and I love them too but you know, I wasn’t wearing them because it turns out those Reebok princess shoes are fantastic. It took a minute for A. to get the hang of the Hokas, but once she quit fighting them she loved them. They really want to go go go!
I found some unworn black Propets in 9 quad E. They work for both of us, so those are sticking around. I found some Propet black Mary Janes and she says those are still fine. I think she actually has quite a few viable choices, including ones she can integrate into various outfits and ones for PE. We can move on to other aspects of her wardrobe, which are also important, but less prone to Oh No I Can’t Leave the House Because My Shoes Don’t Fit. In an emergency, there will always be something of mine she can wear. (Altho to be honest, that is increasingly true of the shoes as well.)