Shoe Obsession

*** I would just like to preface this post with an apology for all of the pics of my child with a runny nose. As a second time mother, runny noses are just part of the gig and pose no threat to my post-partum, non-squeamish tummy (after all, I change about 10 gazillion diapers a day). But if you are not a parent and this grosses you out, I'm sorry. Please don't allow the slight glisten under this adorable baby's nose detract from her all around cuteness...proceed.***

Izzy is crawling. Izzy is crawling and I love that Izzy is crawling because she is usually crawling in my general direction for a quick cuddle and then off to follow her big sister around. However, when babies start to crawl, you find out very quickly what it is that interest them, because they now have the freedom to go get it.

Eva loved the DVD's that we used to keep on a small bookshelf. I would turn around from loading the dishwasher or cleaning up whatever mess she left in her wake, to find her completely surrounded by DVD cases as she had pulled them ALL off of the bookshelf. After learning that Eva loved DVD's we soon started storing them in a drawer with a child proof latch.

Izzy loves shoes. She gets this from Paul. Paul loves shoes about as much as Carrie Bradshaw loves them, if not more. If Paul and I are ever separated in a department store, he can almost always be found in the shoe department...that or the electronics. He is still a man after all.

Anyway, back to Izzy. Since Izzy has started crawling, her favorite thing to get into is the shoes that we leave by the front door as we are a "no shoes in the house" family. It's a tradition that we've happily brought back with us from Hawaii. That and it's just much cleaner, especially when you have a crawling baby. But, it seems to not even matter because if I can't find Izzy, it's safe to say that she is with the shoes.

Of course, I don't allow her to linger there in her pile of dirty shoes for obvious reasons, but no matter how hard I try, she always finds her way back to the shoes. I think we may have to start putting them in a closet or leaving them outside. Here, just look at what I mean...

I've spotted her in the shoes...again...


So, like any good mother, I remove her from the filthy, germ-infested footwear and place her on the opposite side of the room with a new "shiny object"...


It holds her interest for a measly 10 seconds and then, she spots them...


Off she goes...


In sight...


Almost there...


Home at last...


And again, it starts.