Hazards of life

On Saturday we were about two blocks into our 10-block walk to our breakfast restaurant when my sandal suddenly felt strangely off-kilter. I looked down and saw that the leather sole had split open and the super-thick foam cushion had started falling off in chunks. "Do you want to go back and change shoes?" Dave asked. "Nah," I said, "It'll be fine for these few blocks."

In fact, my sandal not only was broken, but it continued breaking apart in spectacular fashion. Everywhere I walked I left large chunks and chocolate-cake-like crumbs of brown foam behind. There was an especially big pile outside the restaurant, and then under the table where we were sitting (blame the baby!). Finally, after we ate, I crumb-trailed down the hill to the closest open store to buy some new shoes.

As it turned out, there was a sidewalk sale that morning and all sorts of shoes were already out in bins at bargain prices. "Mom! You have to get these! They're green and they have DIAMONDS on them!" yelled Luke, waving a pair of kelly-green flip-flops with metal studs. "Bah! Bah!" insisted Zach, handing me a pair of silver ballet flats with a sparkling skull at the top. How strange to go shoe-shopping with the whole family. Luckily, I found a plain little pair of brown flip-flops, just what I needed to get on with my day. As Luke helped me toss the old crumbly sandals into the trash can, I realized that I had bought that pair right before our first family trip to Italy in 2000. Those sandals have sure seen a lot. I think, more than anything, they finally had just had it with me.

Why did I share that story? I'm not sure. It's just going to have to fit into a general theme of random-ness that I feel today. Anyhow...


Last night we went to the Sunday evening concert in the park with Hatcher and family, and as an added attraction Luke and I made a hazard light cake (a long-promised reward for a Pull-Up-free lifestyle). It was especially sweet to share that cake with Julie and Stu, because they, more than any of our friends, have been through much of the same thing and have changed their share of Luke's Pull-Ups. I loved watching Julie give Luke an extra-big hug and seeing Luke just beaming from ear to ear all night long.

Another random thing to relate is that while Zach doesn't necessarily have many new words, he is starting to sing Luke's Volvo song. You know - 'V-o-l-v-o, Volvo! V-o-l-v-o, Volvo!'" As soon as Zach hears someone singing it, he'll chime right in, "Ee-oh-ba-ba-ba, BaBa!" completely in tune. Last night while we were leaving the concert Luke was singing the Volvo song and Zach was acting as his echo. Before long we had attracted quite an appreciative crowd. (Granted, many of them seemed to be a little on the tipsy side. Well, OK, most.)

And here's what's amazing about Zach: He really just walks everywhere. We now have a total of four strollers and two wagons in our garage, and we might be just fine without them. When Dave goes on a walk with the boys in the evening, Zach really walks. When we go down to play at the school, Zach really runs. None of this wimpy stroller stuff for him. Looks like he's bound to wear through shoes even faster than I do.