Shoes glorious shoes

It is a well known fact that Yummy Mummy rather likes shoes. It is, therefore, with some delight that I approach shoe shopping for Eve now she is walking. I've read the toddler rearing books so I am well versed in the need to get sensible shoes for her. She shouldn't, for example, wear anything higher than three inch heels until she is 5. I am also aware at how fast she grows out of things at the moment and how stupidly expensive shoes are. Since she first started to walk, we have done pretty well on the cost front. There is a stall in Stanley Market on the south side of HK island where a nice Chinese lady makes lovely leather shoes for children. The sizes are all over the place so it's a bit hit and miss trying to find what you want in the right size, but Eve's first pair of red shoes came from there at quite a sensible price. The second pair were even more of a bargain because they were a pair of Crocs, something of an obligatory item for any child in Asia, but came from a market in the Philippines and I suspect are not entirely legitimate.

However, Eve has grown out of the red shoes and her toes are nearly at the end of the Crocs so we needed to buy a new pair.

I had every intention of going to Stanley and buying the new pair from the nice Chinese lady. However, the Boy and I were in a shopping centre one Saturday and I was looking at a new pair of trainers for me when my attention was grabbed by a whole rack of small, pink items. I am of the persuasion that branded items for children is an indulgence, but they were so pretty and I got more excited than during the Jimmy Choo sale as I asked for more and more to be brought for Eve to try on. We finally settled on the cheaper end of the Adidas range, but when it came to finding out the price I was horrified. They cost about 70% of what the adult version would and are tiny. Really tiny. We bought them anyway, Eve did look adorable in them.

The Boy has a cunning plan to recoup the costs by taking lots of photos of Eve in different sports brands as a child and then, when she reaches inevitable sporting excellence (in his eyes - Olympic gold medals, winning Wimbledon, the first female F1 champion), we can increase her sponsorship value by having actual baby photos of her in the relevant brand.