Having a two-year-old is like having a blender you don’t have the top for.
Jerry Seinfeld
Having recently set forth into the art of walking, Mr. C feels he is now ready to perambulate with a bit more style, a soupcon more dash, a hint more swagger. Crawling around is fine. It’s fun. However, it lacks, let’s be honest, style, dash and swagger. Walking’s the thing. Sporting around on two legs is invigorating. Ask the apes and cavemen who invented it. Primitive, yes, but they must have known what they were unleashing.
A few months back, janiqueel wrote about the Freshly Picked line of shoes for the very young set. I had to use the word ‘cute’ several times nothing else would convey the heavenly tingles one feels when looking at, touching or pulling them onto tiny tot toes. Mr. C has the Fern Oxfords. They are CUTE! I compared them to desert boots, once a fad, now a staple of footwear. They’re a green, fringe-y moccasin take-off well-suited to life on the floor or the occasional outing calling for a smart casual, practical look. Best worn with an air of nonchalance and cool assurance. That’s Mr. C.
Tempus fugit said those pithy Romans. In our house crawling, once the new thing, has been declared passé. So yesterday. As if he had heard Bob Marley’s ‘Get up. Stand Up,’ one day the boy got up and stood up Yes, there were couches and chairs to lean on and a horde of helping hands to steady the nascent explorer, but he stood, and then he, I swear this is the truth, WALKED. He walked. He was stepping out. I know, other toddlers have done this. But with the verve and style of Mr. C? Doubt it.
The green Fern Oxfords will be with us for a good while yet, but, like the rest of the Lad, those little feet are less little than once they were. Furthermore, as practical and attractive as the Fern were, it is time for more style, more dash, more swagger. I repeat myself for emphasis.
In answer to an early-walker’s wishes come, from Freshly Picked, The Saddle Shoe. ‘Let your baby show off their uncanny charm in these cute, retro-inspired moccs. A saddle shoe print on soft off-white leather with an Ebony leather sole make these fringeless City Moccs something to dance about!’
Of course, one doesn’t want fringe when dancing. Safety first, after all, even when considering style. ‘Safety first,’ implores janiqueel.com. ‘Characterized by a plain toe and saddle-shaped decorative panel placed midfoot’ (Wikipedia), the saddle shoe is a classic. The Freshly Picked model is in black and white as it should be. Saddle shoes have been made in every conceivable colour combination, but, to be classic, it has to be (IMHO) black and white. The Freshly Picked ones are.
Although they have lace-like decorations, the shoes are elastic and slip on with little struggle. I said ‘little,’ I didn’t say ‘no struggle’. For style, we struggle a bit and, when the day is done, and shoes are doffed we are happy we did.
You need to be content with small steps. That’s all life is. Small steps that you take every day so when you look back down the road it all adds up and you know you covered some distance.
Katie Kacvinsky