We have enrolled Dan into nursery for me to attend German lessons to help Integrate better. One of the requests that the school made was to bring a pair of boots for rainy days - Gummiboots as they call it here.
So one fine day, I brought Dan Gummiboots shopping. We entered the first shoe shop that we passed. I saw a pair which was quite decent and about his size and had him try it on. The shop assistant helped to measure his shoe size and helped to put it on. After we managed to get it on, Dan started to scream. I thought he was upset because of the fact he was strapped on his stroller so I unbuckled him and stood him up. He did not want to stand up either and was really wailing his lungs out. We tried showing him the video games they had at the shop, the slide and with no avail, Dan just could not stop. Embarrased, I took off the pair of boots and passed it back to the shop assistant. At that point, I just thought he was tired and did not want to try anything new. I took a note of the shoe size and the price and left.
A few weeks later while we were travelling out of town, we saw a pair of boots which was on discount at a bicycle shop. I asked Emil to try it on Dan this time. The moment the boots were on him, he started wailing again. This time, I was puzzled because Dan had has his nap before entering the shop. Both me and Emil came to the conclusion that Dan just did not like the fact that the boots restricted his movement and he was not used to it. He is still with his soft sole shoes and we have not gotten him a pair of proper shoes yet. Emil took Dan by the hand gentlely and "dragged" him around the shop. Poor Dan, walking slowly behind whilst wailing his lungs out. I think it must have freaked all the people at the shop wondering what were we doing to the baby; all the shop assistants being young men and might not have had an encounter with a baby before. After checking for the perfect fit, we paid for it and left.
I tried without avail to have Dan try on his boots. However, the moment he sees them he starts screaming as if we were trying to torture him. Emil had a plan; one day after the rain, he took Dan and the boots for a walk, made Dan put them on and started playing ball with him. The moment it was fun and games or he had his mind occupied on something interesting, he forgot that he had his boots on. The moment they stopped, Dan starts kicking them off. After a few rounds of breaking in, he started to be more comfortable having his boots on. We could not be happier.
We will have to see when winter comes and he will need to have his boots on whenever we go out.
