Red Shoes, Fairies and Cowboys

 This entire post is about events and moments in January of this year because, yes, I am still behind.  But I am getting close to catching up! Before you and I know it, I will be posting about current things!  Hurrah!  Well, that's the dream anyway.

One Saturday morning I was putting Jack's shoes on when he said, "Hurts!  Hurts    my     toes!"  (I put additional spaces between the words because that more accurately describes how he speaks).  I checked the ends of his shoes to see how close his toes were, and was surprised that they were crunched in there.  Hey, didn't these shoes fit twelve hours ago?!?  Suddenly the agenda for the day became: find Jack some new shoes ASAP.  So, we went to a few stores with no luck and rapidly diminishing energy. 

We decided to try one last place: Old Navy.  I am getting old, as it turns out, because I thought the music in there was too loud and irritating.  Anyway, I found only two pairs of sneakers in a size 6.  A blue pair of low-top velcro sneakers, and a bright red high-top pair with elastic laces and velcro.  As soon as he saw the red pair he reached for them and shouted (probably because the music was so loud), "Red    shoes!  Red    shoes!"  So we put them on and off he ran across the store, stopping only twice to bend over and point to his shoes while saying, "Red    shoes.  Red   shoes."  I then tried to have him put on the blue pair, but he wouldn't have it.  The search for shoes was finally over.  We bought the red shoes and he wore them home, talking about his red shoes all the way there.  For the first week or so he brought them into our room every morning and plopped them onto my pillow next to my face, and then announced, "Red    shoes!" 

Here he is so pleased with his red footwear, the first thing he's ever picked out at the store.  For only being 18 months old, he does have pretty good taste.  I can hardly wait to see him wear them with shorts! 

Jack and Addie love to dress up and run around the house.  Jack is almost always a cowboy and Addie is usually a fairy or a pirate... or a mermaid... or a princess... or a chef....or a combination of two or more of those.

oOoOooo! Dum dum dum, oOoOooo!  Dum DUM DUM!!!

These two have such a good time playing together!

Jack put himself down for a nap, which he occasionally does when he's really tired, but usually he climbs into his bed.  This time, however, he chose to nap outside my bathroom door.  You can tell he intended to have a nap because he bothered to go and get all of his stuffed animals out of his bed first.  This kid likes to hold as many stuffed animals in his arms as possible when he goes to sleep.

Jack got to go on a shopping trip with Dad to Scheels for some new arrow tips.  He also got to have animal taxidermy encounters.

I find these pictures hilarious because he has the exact same expression in all of them.  He seems so confused and unimpressed by it all.  He had the same look a week ago at a play date when another little boy got right in his face and made weird noises and gestures for a good three minutes straight.  Jack didn't even flinch or back up, but stared at him with great stoicism.  I should teach him how to play poker...