Bo has been having a really hard time letting go of his tennis shoes he has had since he was one. Yesterday was the day where his foot grew so big that I couldn’t even get his heel in his beloved sneaker. We talked and talked, he tried on all of his brother’s shoes, and we lined up several pairs for him to try next… But he was not budging. We got as far as coloring a gray pair with a pink marker, but even with his chosen color he still refused.
Finn and Rhys were watching Bo slowly getting more upset about the situation today. Finn exclaimed “I know! Let’s get him a stuffy like the YouTube video that he watches, where the mom puts shoes on the teddy and sings a song!” Tired and relieved by a new idea, I fully embraced the plan. Finn grabbed foxy, one of our many stuffed animals. The He said “look Bo! Foxy wants to wear your old shoes!” He started making up a song about putting on one’s shoes. I chimmed in, “look, Bo, those are foxy’s shoes now!”. He was into it. He grabbed a pair of sandals and put them on foxy’s other two feet.
Finn was beaming. I hugged him and gave him a little shake. “That was genius Finn. Thank you for talking care of your brother”. Finn and Rhys ran off to the yard, and Bo stay behind for a couple more minutes with foxy. Then he quietly let me put on his new pair of half grey, half pink shoes to join his brothers.
