Like her mother before her, Sahsez tends to form strong emotional bonds to footwear. Lately I've been trying to convince her to come shopping with me for a new pair of rubber boots and some new runners for the spring....
SAHSEZ: You can, but I'm still going to keep wearing my orange ones!
ME: Sahsez, they are full of holes. You come home with your feet soaked on wet days! You need new boots and new shoes too because there's no point in wearing rubber boots on dry days!
SAHSEZ: But I LIKE my boots.
ME: They are full of holes. I'm sure we can find another pair you like just as much.
SAHSEZ: They won't be orange!
ME: Possibly not, but maybe yellow? Or red? Something fun! Something you like! We won't get ones that you don't like. I mean, you've had those for two years. How do they still even fit you?
SAHSEZ: My toes are squished in them.
ME: What? You didn't tell me THAT! Alright that's it, you definitely need new ones.
SAHSEZ: But I like these ones! I don't CARE if they hurt. I don't CARE if I get wet. I like my orange boots! (Stamps her foot)
ME: Sigh.
....
Enter my aunt and uncle, who came to visit over spring break. We went for a birdwatching walk at Island View Beach and my mom ended up ripping up a plastic bag and wrapping them around Sahsez' feet, then sticking them in the boots, whose holes had gotten so big they let in not only water, but small pebbles. Lots of pebbles. My aunt saw this, saw the wishy-washy way I was dealing with it, and took matters into her own hands.
AUNT: We're buying Sahsez some new boots.
ME: Oh thanks. That's so nice of you! She really likes those ones though, so maybe we'll try to find some that look very similar?
AUNT: Whatever she likes is fine, but let's go get them right now.
This was a boon, not just because they were going to pay for the boots but also because the new boots would now fall under the category of Gift, and therefore Sahsez would be obliged to be grateful for them and actually wear them. Just to be sure, I whispered a reminder to her on the way to Zeller's: "Now these new boots are a present from Aunty and Uncle so absolutely no complaining of how they're not the right ones, and no talking about how you're going to continue wearing the old ones, okay?"
I needn't have worried. For among the boring plain black, plain yellow, and camouflage (but only for adults) rubber boots on the racks at Zeller's was the most perfect pair of rubber boots in the world: snakeskin cowboy rubber boots. Sahsez fell in love.
Later that day, after having a visit at Abu's with Aunty and Uncle, she came upstairs and announced that she was going to plant flowers in her old boots. This was a relief to me, because though it was clear that the new boots were a big hit, I expected we might still have some quibbling about what should happen to the beloved orange pair. I thought she would want to keep them around, and still wear them from time to time. But you can't wear boots that are filled with potting soil, now can you?
SAHSEZ: And if I want to wear them, I can just dump out the dirt!
Actually no, she didn't really say the above, but she was thinking it. I could tell.
