Diana carefully pushed the stroller across the wide six lane street. The sun warmed us as we reflected on a successful day at the aquarium. There was some stress and the crowds were a challenge towards the end of our visit, but all of us had fun.
I followed Diana up to the opposite curb and heard honking. Annoyed, I got ready to glare to the car behind me for not having the patience and decency to let a family cross the street. As I looked at the car full of people, I saw that they were not angry but smiling and urging me to look as they pointed to the crosswalk.
Sitting there in the middle of the street was Ethan’s shoe.
I glanced at the stroller and saw that Ethan in fact only had one shoe on. Ethan had taken off his shoe and thrown it out of the stroller. I groaned, smiled at the car, and waved it to go by. I crossed the street back over and picked up the shoe as I walked. Wanting to make sure that I didn’t confuse any drivers I crossed all the way over, let some cars passed and then crossed again to join my family.
Ethan really likes taking off his shoes and socks. Part of this has to do with the fact that baby socks in general do not stay on. Babies have wide feed and lack clearly defined ankles which is not conducive to keeping socks on. Feet are also a world of sensory information. When babies discover their feet and touch their feet with their hands, it helps create important connections in their brain and helps them learn to cross different parts of their body through gross motor movement. Ethan has taken this enjoyment a step further.
Most of the time, Ethan is walking around the house only wearing one sock. This morning for example, he woke up with one sock. and if you reach into our couch you will likely find a between the cushions: one sock (most likely more than one).
It’s fine most of the time. Ethan feeling different textures of hardwood and carpet on his bare feet is important for brain development, but when we are trying to leave the house, one sock can be annoying. Also, Ethan is growing more aware of his world, his singular sock interest has expanded into shoes, hence the shoe incident I wrote about at the top of this post.
We have all of these baby socks without pairs and many days when I dress Ethan, I just give up and put on mismatched socks. We have these wonderful slippers that we can put on that prevent him from removing his socks, but I don’t often put them on his feet. Because as annoying as Ethan’s sock-removing habit is, I kind of love it. It's REALLY cute watching him walk around with one sock on. He’s so happy often when he is doing this and I love that his is oblivious to social norms or the fact that he only has one sock on. I am jealous of this “one sock on, no big deal, I’m still going to dance,” attitude about life.
That’s one of the interesting thing about children. Sometime the annoying things are the things that we also find the cutest and most endearing. For example, the mess of eating, the challenges of co-sleeping, the drama of bath time, can all be annoying. More than that, they are moments that in which we are witnessing growth and learning. So yes, the sock issue is annoying, but I’m kind of okay with this. Because I know some day years from now, when moving a piece of furniture, I will find one of Ethan’s missing socks.
I will dust if off, squeeze it in my hand and smile.
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