Letting Go

*sigh*

I guess with growing up, Ian also gains independence. I knew it was coming. He wants to do everything himself. He requests his own music in the car, he wants to be first player on the Wii.

It started when he began wanting to pick out his own clothes. Which is great, really. I just (because I am just the teensiest bit of a control freak) had to set some boundaries- you know, something that fits you and NO short sleeves when it is snowing out.

And then it happened. He needed new shoes (because seriously, overnight, he grew out of every pair of shoes that he owns!), so we headed to Payless yesterday. And he didn't want these:

or these:or these:

or even these:

but he would not rest until he had THESE:

They are light up, velcro, Transformer sneakers. I hate hate hate characters on shoes. I don't know why. I just do. There are so many other cool options! And I KNOW this is silly. And I know that in the grand scheme of things, this totally doesn't matter. But...still...they are just so dorky...!

But you know what? They make him so happy. He loves them. He is so excited that he has sneakers "just like Colin Corey" now. And I get that. I know I wore things (well, most everything, probably) that my parents thought were freakishly weird. And it made me happy (well, until 20 years later looking back at the pictures and wondering why they didn't exercise a little bit more control when I wanted to wear the suit jacket, long flowing skirt, and cowgirl boots to picture day).

So, it's okay. It is. I'm fine with the plastic Transformer sneakers. I really am.

And I am so incredibly happy that I still have a few years left to exercise complete footwear control on Chase and Gavin.