New Shoes

It was rainy here today, but that didn't stop TongJie from wanting to go outside this morning.  We realized the only shoes he has are sandals and a pair of leather slipper things that aren't exactly real shoes.  It was a little cold for getting wet feet today, so we decided we might as well try to buy him a pair of real shoes.  We had looked at Goodwill when we were there last week, but their selection of baby shoes left a lot to be desired and there was nothing even close to his size, except for some very girly pink slipper things.  So we headed to the mall thinking that maybe Ross or Payless would have something acceptable for cheap.  We looked and there wasn't much in his size, but we were walking past this store called The Children's Place so we decided to go in and look.  It's a good thing we went in, because they had their "winter" shoes on clearance and we scored a pair of really nice tennis shoes for $4.99.  TongJie was apprehensive about walking in them at first - I don't think he's ever worn a pair of shoes like that before and they're a lot heavier than sandals.  But he got used to them right away and seems to like them.

After his nap, we went for a walk like usual.  His stroller has a covering, so the rain didn't bother him in the least.  While we walk, I always check on him every once in awhile from the front to see if he looks like he's enjoying himself, and today when I looked at him several times he appeared to be admiring his new shoes.  He was holding his feet up and turning them so he could see them from all different angles and smiling.  It was pretty funny!

TongJie had more fun with Jeff's hat today.  Yesterday I mentioned how he must think hats are supposed to go over his face because that's how he always tries to put them on.  Today he was trying to walk around the house holding Jeff's hat over his face like that.  We had to intervene because he couldn't see where he was going at all, and that's not a good combination for somebody who can barely walk on his own even when he can see!  You can see from the pictures that our cat, Chestnut, always wants to be right in on the action.

Speaking of our pets, Albert has been doing a lot better lately.  I think he's realizing, in his own doggy way, several positive things about having TongJie around.  First of all, we're home a lot more and we don't leave him by himself very often nowadays.  Also, he gets to go for long walks more often - at least once a day, and sometimes twice.  Finally, food gets dropped on the floor at almost every meal!  TongJie loves to interact with Albert, and Albert has been engaging with him sometimes now, which is fun.  TongJie has a certain tone of "UH!," usually accompanied by pointing or reaching out, that means he's trying to communicate with one of the cats or Albert, and we're starting to recognize it.  Every afternoon and night, Albert accompanies us into TongJie's room when he's falling asleep for his nap or bedtime, and a couple of times, Albert has gone up to the crib and stuck his nose through the bars, much to the great delight of TongJie.  And most mornings and afternoons when TongJie wakes up, he waves and says "hi" or "UH!" to Albert and Chestnut.  I think that, when TongJie is able to run around in the backyard by himself, he and Albert are going to have a lot of fun together.