In search of the perfect (squeaky) shoes

Perrin can officially toddle! What I mean by that is that he can take 3 or 4 steps on his own if he's walking from me to Trey while we're sitting on the floor. But he's still using crawling as his main mode of transportation. I've been trying to figure out how I can encourage him to walk without pushing him into it against his will. I think I know the solution--squeaky shoes!

I've seen tons of toddlers with squeaky shoes, so I figured we could find Perrin a pair over the weekend and try them out. I had no idea that this simple idea would turn into a day-long scavenger hunt. We had already looked at Walmart, not really expecting them to carry them (and we were right). So on Saturday morning, we began the hunt in earnest. After we had visited Target, Babies-R-Us, Rhea Lana, Baby Depot, Dillards, Payless, Gymboree, JC Penney, and Shoe Carnival with not a squeaky shoe to be found, we had pretty much given up hope. Where the heck do you find those things?? We knew of one other place to try--a children's boutique called Over the Moon. We looked them up online and saw that they were located near my parents' house, where we were headed anyway. Awesome! Except... they weren't located at that address anymore. And when I tried calling, the number had been disconnected. Score another 20 points for the fates that were conspiring against us.

I finally gave in and decided to order a pair online. I didn't want to do it because I wanted to have Perrin try them on to make sure we were getting the right size (and to make sure the squeaky sound didn't freak him out). But wouldn't you know it... as soon as I clicked to submit the order, the web page froze. I sat there for 20 minutes, fuming, until I finally gave up. Trey could see that I was pretty much at the end of my rope, so he reordered the shoes for me, and this time it went through.

About 20 minutes later, I received two email receipts for my two pairs of squeaky shoes that were being processed. ::insert highly exasperated mommy noise here::

I think I've finally managed to cancel one of the orders. But these shoes had better be the best thing since sliced bread for all the trouble they've caused.