School Shoes

Brayden is ready to head back to school (although we have not convinced him of that yet).

We had to find shoes that would actually fit him.  And this is a task.  We have traumatized a few ladies at Stride Rite and Nordstrom over the years, who try so hard get his very round, very fat feet into a shoe...not to mention making it fit with his AFO braces on.

The Shoe Train in Potomac, Maryland seems to be the only place in the DC Metro area that can custom fit shoes.  So we loaded the car to head over the river for Shoe Train.

Shoe Train is one hot spot.  The place was full of people and kids running all around.  I neglected to realize that it was back-to-school shopping time and this week happened to be tax-free week in Maryland...needless to say the shoe store was busy.  A two-hour wait busy.

The owner approached us with Brayden asking if we wanted to come back over the weekend before the store opened so it would be better for Brayden.  Very thoughtful but impossible for us.  It was this day or no day, so we waited it out.  Did I mention I had Carter and Luke with me as well?

We ate lunch, some pizza and subs.  Played in a toy store (taking kids into a toy store is torture, they want everything and I do not plan to buy anything; but we did buy a couple of small games they could play while they waited).

Finally, shoe time.  Brayden needed a pair with his AFOs on and a pair without his AFOs on.

His feet measured about a size 8.  The shoes for the AFOs are a size 11, double extra-wide, insole taken out and they cut parts of the shoe to make it fit.  

Brayden was pretty patient trying on the shoes.  We did get two pairs as well as a pair for Carter and Luke. Getting shoes for Brayden has proven to not be a simple (or cheap) task.