Do they have a support group for this?

So I think I have a problem, a shoe problem almost an addiction. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Before Brooks was a he, he was Cletus the genderless (to us) fetus. I always said that if I had a girl that I would dress her very gender neutral until she had an opinion on her clothes. Then I had a boy and had to buy clothes and shoes for him. I again said I didn't want color to really play into his wardrobe, which is pretty expensive for a newborn. Totally doable, but pricey. Then he became a toddler and the cut and the look of the clothes are more boyish no matter what the color. Two weeks ago at the library he was in a red and white striped romper and sandals and was called a girl by almost everyone. I don't care, really I don't. What I do care about are his shoes.

The boy has some shoes, and right now my favorite shoes are by a company out of Austria called Superfit. Through hand me downs and a gift he currently owns 3 pairs of their shoes and they are BEYOND awesome. They stay on his foot, have a nice supportive but flexible sole and come up a little on his ankle to give this new walker a little extra support. So when Brooks "needed" (I use that word very loosly since he currently has 5 pair in rotation) a pair of black shoes I went straight to them. It took me FOREVER to figure out the brand name, but that was my own damn fault. Once I got it though I was hot on their trail.

I looked all over the US and Canada for a dealer or distributor, none. OK, the website was coming up a little wonky so I emailed the company. I was told they didn't have any dealers or online sources over here, but they are all over Europe. SCORE!!! I have friends, including Brooks' god-father in Europe. I find the pair I'm looking for and then find the shop near my friend's house. This is all working out way too well, He's visiting this weekend for a wedding he can just bring them and then I don't have to pay shipping, this is Brilliant.

Apparently shops in Paris don't usually have websites, I'm not sure if this is commonplace in all of Europe, but that's how it is there. I track down the shop's number, look up a few vocabulary words to refresh my French and dial their number. The shop keeper was lovely, I told him I lived in the US and spoke a little French and that I could understand if he spoke slowly, which he did, not like I'm hard of hearing slowly, but like I don't really speak your language and I'm getting every third word kind of slowly. His shop carries, the brand, style and size for Brooks. Done and done. Email all the specifics to the friend and he will pick them up on Sunday.

Sunday rolls around and I get a call from my friend, the shoes which are 12,95€ on Amazon France are 60€ at the shop, that's around $80. That's way to steep for baby shoes, unless they are dipped in gold, but then they would be too heavy, so it's a lose lose. I tell him never mind and decide to order them from Amazon France. They won't ship to my house, but obviously they ship to my friend's. Order placed 15 minutes later, easy peasy. Until I wake up the next morning and there are two emails from Amazon France saying that the shoes are on back order and will be delayed by 4 days. This will not work at all, since that has them arriving right in the middle of my friend's visit to the US.

So back on the hunt for black shoes for my son that aren't sneakers, have a sole, but a flexible one, don't cost $80, stay on his foot and don't look stupid. He may not be wearing anything that doesn't coordinate with his brown shoe collection, until his god-father comes home for Christmas and brings the kid shoes.