Shoes

I have been preparing Laurel and Isaac's Amazon wish lists, since Christmas is around the corner, and Laurel's first birthday is just two weeks after that! While I was shopping, I made a startling discovery.

But before I discuss this discovery, let me tell you something else startling: I registered for a baby doll for Laurel! Yes, she's not even a year old and I'm already forcing her down the road of gender-specific toys. But we already own a lot of "gender-neutral" toys, and heaven knows we have enough vehicles and tools. Just about the only toy we don't have is a baby doll. I'm kidding. Sort of.

I don't know if she's interested in dolls, although she loves to look at photographs of real babies in books. Mostly she wants to play with whatever Isaac is playing with, although it's hard to register for that.

But getting back to the point, the thing that startled me was shoes, or perhaps shoe sizing. Laurel seldom wears shoes now. She doesn't walk yet, but it is reasonable to assume that she will do so someday. And when she does start to walk, chances are the weather will still be cool. I decided to get her some new shoes, because she might want to wear them when she starts walking on the cold wet ground!

So I began to look on Amazon at cute shoes for baby girls (and they are cute!). But before I could register for them, I had to figure out what size she wears.

I would say that Laurel is a normal-sized baby, although at her last doctor's appointment she measured in something like the 25th percentile for weight and the 75th for height. I assume she is normal-sized, however, because she is ten months old and most of the clothing she wears is the age-appropriate size: either 6-12 months or 9-12 months. Yes, she does still wear some items of clothing that are size 3-6 months, but on the other hand, she also wears some that are size 12-18 months, so maybe it balances out.

Back to shoe sizing: she has some size 0-6 months Robeez, cute soft leather crib shoes, and they still fit! (Although there is no room to grow.) I tried the next size up, 6-12 months, and they were huge. There is absolutely no way she can wear those yet.

You may recall my previous discussion of Isaac's magic shoes, which fit him for over a year because we accidentally bought them way too large! But that's not the situation here. The shoes are normal, but Laurel has tiny feet -- tiny narrow feet with elegantly long second toes.

I wear a nine and a half; my sister wears an eleven and a half; my mother wears a ten. Where did Laurel get her gorgeous little feet?